F-Zero: Seppuku - Part 3 of 3
by Siontix
Summary: The series finale. Chiya Flower returns to settle the score with Dark Million and win the annual Grand Prix. Along with the dangers she faces, Chiya now desires to wed with Earl Bendek and have a child with him. Unfortunately, the two must now live in constant fear of Seppuku returning for revenge. Read this story on Deviantart if you desire pictures to go with the chapters. FZero
1. Prologue

_Highly recommended that you at least read Part 2 of 3 before reading this__-__this is not mandatory, but __**strongly**__ recommended._

==Prologue=

Mute City, Japan. A loud thunderstorm ravaged the sky far past midnight. The streets of the Lower City was practically flooded as a result of the immense rainfall, not a single vehicle or pedestrian roamed the streets. Only the homeless of the Lower City remained outside, but even they could provide themselves somewhat with cover.

Mute City was a massive metropolis that stretched out for several miles; the original name of the city was _Tokyo_. While this was one of the most striving cities in the universe, it remained divided into different areas. The Lower City was where the lower class citizens remained, while the Upper City was where the middle and upper class remained.

Somewhere in the Lower City was a large building with a fairly simple appearance; inside of this was a series of rooms. Far across a hallway was a lone metal door, this was the office of the complex.

Inside of the office sat a 45 year old blonde haired woman in a navy blue uniform. The office was completely dark except for the large luxurious window that was behind her, along with a small candle she had on her desk. The woman had a fairly serious look on her face as she simply wrote on a sheet of paper with a pen. The woman had a unique hairstyle, one half being combed to the side, while the other half was simply combed down.

Behind the woman remained a massive painted portrait of a darkly clothed man in a trench coat and fedora. He had a shiny black visor under his fedora with glowing white eyes, a large red scarf drooping all the way down to his belly, and an angry look on his face. This portrait was of _Lieutenant Seppuku_, a famous F-Zero racer renowned for his unorthodox methods of hunting criminals.

The woman lowered her eyebrows and exhaled as she gazed at the words she had finished writing. Next to her hand was a nameplate; _Bendek_ was printed in bold. She breathed in and looked back down at her paper. A very shiny ring around her finger glimmered as she briefly held her hand over the candle. This, was _Chiya Flower_.

Chiya stared at the paper she had been writing on with an intense look.

_I find myself one week away from the start of the annual Grand Prix. Everybody is counting on me; either me or Tatiana will likely pull out on top this year and win the prize money._

A loud crack of thunder sent Chiya's eyes open slightly, but she brushed this off and looked back down.

_Of course, the Grand Prix is never the event I look forward to every year, rather, I look forward to another bit of significance with this date. In one week, it will have been twenty-two years since I met Earl Bendek and Lieutenant Seppuku__-__where my adventure all started…_

Chiya crossed her fingers together and looked down at her ring.

_The first year in Seppuku's organization was difficult. I had entered without an F-Zero machine, but me and Earl had begun working on one; the Purring Kitten. We were faced with the notorious gangs of Red Star and the Bloody Chain as a violent gang war was going hot here in the Lower City… _

_This year was so important to me, I made friends, finally was taken away from my life of a homeless bum, and completed my F-Zero machine in the end. I remember, that fateful day where Red Star threw out an all-out assault on the Lower City. I killed Brock Blaskovitz and proceeded to live a happy year with my friends in this very base…_

Chiya faintly smiled and dropped her hands over her waist. _That was the greatest summer I ever had. Me and Earl went to the beach so many times, and Seppuku was always pulling pranks on us; we all started a prank war that summer with each other, which eventually ended after Earl made the mistake of accidentally breaking Seppuku's TV_. She began to silently chuckle at this, then got a stern look on her face. _It was a good summer, but things soon got hard again as we entered December…_ Chiya sighed loudly. _We went an entire summer with no problems, but then everything got intense. It was around September that I had fallen in love with Earl, as my crush for him had eventually developed into something much more. Aside from the drama of my life, however, we soon learned of a much greater threat than the old gangs; Dark Million…_

Chiya narrowed her eyes tightly. _I had been captured by Dark Million and was tortured. They were relentless. I was eventually saved by Earl and brought back home, where the conflict had begun. Little did I know for a long time, Earl had assumed the secret identity of a man named Excalibur and had infiltrated Dark Million, looking for a way to stop them._ Chiya sighed and closed her eyes. _Then there was Dark Rose, my evil clone sister. Rose presented us with so many problems, but eventually we stopped her, in the end however, we were only saddened by this. That year was my first Grand Prix, and I nearly won, but Seppuku had attacked me at the last second out of love. _

Chiya's eyes were quivering slightly at the words;_ out of_ _love_. _Despite the outcome of that Grand Prix, that year was very important for me. After much work, Earl had fallen in love for me. We were destined to always be a couple, and to this day, we remain in love with each other. Even twenty years later, our love remains as strong as it first was..._

Chiya's eyes began to water at this sentence, she sighed and swallowed. _But that year was cut badly; Seppuku had been arrested after the Battle for Green Plant, and was put on trial by Jody Summer. She had instantly broken our family apart and was trying to win the case so she could execute Seppuku for an unjustified reason…_ Chiya closed her eyes sadly and quirked her mouth. _That entire summer I had spent alone with Earl, fearing that Seppuku would break away from the judicial system and hunt us down. But, our luck came; if you can really call it luck. Seppuku had been found guilty to all charges against him and was issued a date for execution via electrocution…_

Chiya breathed in and exhaled. _That really was where it all started…_ she closed her eyes and shook negatively. _That third year was by far the most life affecting year of my life, to this day, nothing has ever had more of a change on my life, than that third year…_ she continued to shake negatively. _The first and second year put together could never add up to be a more effective year, the third one is and always will be…_

She shot open her eyes with quivering eyes and grunted loudly.

"-what changed life for me and Earl, forever…" she muttered faintly…

Fire Field-an F-Zero committee owned planet most renowned for the dangerous racetracks it contained. The planet was completely filled with lava, but still had several metal surfaces all across the planet; most of which was either the remains of a mining outpost, or a racetrack.

Far along the Cylinder Knot racetrack were two F-Zero machines driving at full speed down the cylinder. A very large bright blue machine with shark teeth on the front was trying to escape another F-Zero machine, but was finding no luck doing so. A red machine with a pink stripe going down the front-center was quickly pursuing the large bodied machine.

The blue machine had the name _Fat Shark_ imprinted on the body. A very obese man wearing much jewelry and a monocle looked back at his pursuer and growled. This was Don Genie, a well renowned mafia boss who had a jewelry addiction. The machine chasing him had the name _Purring Kitten_ on the side.

"God damn, leave me alone already!" Genie shouted aloud.

The _Purring Kitten_ seemed to have a superior edge on the _Fat Shark_, as it was gaining on the machine quickly. Genie gritted his teeth nervously and looked down at his energy meter; he was now in the red zone and couldn't risk boosting any further. The restoration pad to the track was turned off.

The _Purring Kitten_ momentarily bumped into the rear of the machine and began to hostilely push it forward. Genie growled and switched open his attack buttons. An F-Zero pilot could either do a side or spin attack; in this case he prepared to initiate a spin attack. He slammed his thumb down on the button and instantly sent his machine in a very violent series of spins, but the _Purring Kitten_ had moved aside at just the right moment. Genie widened his eye and looked back after completing the spin attack, his opponent was no longer behind him.

"Eh..?" he muttered in confusion.

It was at that moment that the _Purring Kitten_ slid to his side, having gone around the gravitational cylinder. Genie gasped and hit the brakes, but he had already been successfully side attacked. His machine was propelled into the air, but fortunately was pulled back down to the track rather than flying towards the lava.

His machine flipped over and scraped along the track for several seconds, he had been completely stopped by his opponent and now had a burning machine. He grinded his teeth and climbed out of the cockpit, he prepared to get off his knees but quickly found that the _Purring Kitten_ did a power slide right in front of him and stopped. He gasped and remained on the floor as the cockpit slowly began to open.

A woman in a black and blue racing suit, red scarf, and a black and blue biker-styled helmet leapt down onto the ground. The helmet had blue cat ears.

Genie clenched his fists and growled, "W- what do _you_ want with me!?"

The woman stopped in front of him and grasped her helmet, she carefully pulled it off and held it under her armpit; revealing a much younger Chiya Flower. Chiya was a twenty-four year old and was wearing a blue stock hat underneath the helmet. She dropped the helmet onto the ground and instantly pulled out a handgun-cocking it back.

Genie gasped as she took aim at his head with a serious look, "O- okay! How much money do you want!?" he pleaded.

Chiya narrowed her eyes, "You know why I'm here, senile old fool…"

Genie grunted at her and lowered his eyebrows, "Wh- what? You mean you're doing this because-"

"My mother. Release her from the debt she owes you," she demanded coldly. She narrowed her eyes at Genie, "You know just as much as I do that she's repaid well over the original amount she had taken out…"

Genie slammed his hands down onto the hot metal floor, "That's why you've been chasing me all these months!?" Chiya nodded affirmatively, Genie exhaled and nodded, "Yeah, fine…"

Chiya stomped her foot down loudly, "If I ever see another one of your goons coming to my mom expecting money, I will track you down and kill you; regardless of what you may say…"

Genie nodded frantically, "Yes! Yes! Your mother is free from her debt to me!"

Chiya slowly nodded at him and put her handgun away, "Good."

With that being said, she turned towards the _Purring Kitten_ and prepared to leave. Genie grunted and held his hand out towards her.

"Hey, wait! I need a way back to the starport!"

Chiya climbed into her cockpit and shook negatively at him, "Sorry, one-seated machine," she beamed at him and giggled, "But hey, you could use the long walk."

She closed the cockpit and turned on her machine, momentarily departing from the area. Genie simply gazed at her machine as it flew back towards the main civilized area of Fire Field. He gasped and dropped back down onto the ground as his machine made a small explosion.

Chiya later arrived at the starport and parked her machine. The starport was one of the only populated areas on the planet, but since Fire Field was mostly only visited for the Grand Prix; it merely served as a place to rest. This planet was especially significant to Chiya for one reason however, and that was because Cylinder Knot was the very first Grand Prix race she had ever competed in.

She leapt out of her machine and landed perfectly onto the ground. She quickly whipped her head up as a 29 year old brown haired main in a brown leather jacket and jeans came approaching her. Chiya smiled at him and began to approach him as well.

"Did you get him?"

Chiya nodded, "Yep, he won't be bothering my mother any longer…"

This man played a very significant role in Chiya's life; he was a Korean mechanic going by the name of _Earl Bendek_. Earl was Chiya's boyfriend.

"Does that mean you killed him?"

Chiya shook negatively, "Of course not, but I told him I would if he ever comes near my mom again…"

Earl exhaled happily and smiled, "Well, that's it then," Chiya raised an eyebrow, "Don Genie was the last criminal. We no longer have any enemies to fight, from this day on, we are perfectly free to live normal lives."

Chiya let out a chuckle, "I'm an F-Zero racer; I hardly call that _normal_."

Earl shrugged at her and smirked, "Let's get the Hell out of here, this heat is unbearable…"

Chiya raised her hand as she climbed aboard the _Purring Kitten_ again, "After I store my machine, I'm hitting the shower; I call it first!"

Chiya and Earl were later traveling back to Earth in their luxury F-Zero ship; which Chiya had won in an auction race. The ship contained a kitchen, living room, garage, two bedrooms, bathroom, and the deck. Earl and Chiya were sitting together in the deck, Earl was the one piloting.

Chiya was sitting back comfortably as the two listened to Japanese pop music, she was slightly bobbing her head to the music. Earl slightly glanced over at her and smiled.

"You seem pretty happy considering we just concluded our hunt for Genie."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Earl smirked and shrugged, "Well, it was a long and stressful chase. I honestly imagined you being a bit more exhausted; especially since the chase brought us to Fire Field in the end."

Chiya growled faintly and nodded, "Admittedly, I was pretty angry that we had to go back there," she turned her head towards him and hummed aloud, "Do we have to go to Fire Field or Sand Ocean this year?"

"For?"

"The Grand Prix?"

Earl shook negatively, "Nope, you get a set of fairly nice racetracks this year; the first one being on the luxurious planet of Big Blue."

Chiya closed her eyes and smiled greatly, "Big Blue…" she puckered her lips and held her knees tightly, "I can only imagine what adventure that planet will bring us..!"

"Do you like dolphins?"

"U-m, yes!"

Earl looked down at the galaxy map and began to navigate a different direction, as an asteroid field was intersecting with their path.

"Well, the planet has been known to have some pretty huge aquariums; we'll be sure to see what's there."

Chiya clenched her fists and let out an excited squeal, "This Grand Prix is going to be so great! It'll finally just be the race I was looking for; no constant enemies at my neck!"

Earl's smile began to fade as she said this, quickly turning into a troubled look, "Yeah…"

Chiya took off her green stock hat and stood up, "Alright, I'm gonna' take a shower."

Earl looked up at her and smiled again, "Sure."

She walked away from Earl and departed into the bathroom. Earl slowly rubbed his chin as she had walked away, thinking more about the annual Grand Prix. Chiya had nearly won the one billion credits prize money the following year; but her ally, Lieutenant Seppuku, had disallowed this by attacking her.

The general fear he was having was Chiya's assumption that she would be without enemies on the track. Blood Falcon had never been seen since the day he won the Grand Prix, but Earl had a bad feeling that he hadn't died during the Battle of Green Plant. The worst case scenario would be that he targets Chiya on the track as an enemy; as she wouldn't stand a chance. Chiya's survival would likely be on Captain Falcon's shoulders without Seppuku around the protect her.

Earl looked back at the bathroom and found that Chiya had begun to shower with the door wide open again. He lowered his eyebrows as the steam of the shower was visible coming out of the door. This was a common thing Chiya did, but Earl was never sure if she found that an open door shower was more relaxing, or if she was trying to lure Earl in for sexual reasons.

Ultimately, he disregarded this and held up an F-Zero magazine about Chiya Flower and the _Purring Kitten_.

Far away in a massive cruiser sat a large darkly clothed man with a cape. His mask had a set of horns and glowing white eyes, he stood beside the famous racer known as Blood Falcon, who had won the previous Grand Prix. The darkly clothed man chuckled maniacally as he looked down at a massive training center. There were hundreds of identical Blood Falcon clones doing inhuman exercises.

The clones all wore red racing suits with dark blue helmets and visors; however none were wearing scarves yet. Scarves would represent what rank each individual was by color.

"The clone army advances magnificently, Blood Falcon."

Blood Falcon crossed his arms and smirked, "Your decision to promote me to head of the army was a most wise one, Master."

The man in the cape and dark clothes was none other than the notorious Black Shadow, the most wanted man in the universe. Prior to the previous year, Black Shadow was already the most wanted man simply for being an insane religious head; but after attempting to destroy Green Plant and intending to exterminate all human life on Earth-his bounty multiplied almost three times as much as the original reward.

"Look at them Blood Falcon, look at your brothers work…" Blood Falcon smirked, "They have trained all their life, merely for one significant endgame battle on Earth."

One clone was running on a treadmill at nearly 5 miles an hour. The were not ordinary humans, these were genetically advanced clones that could go beyond the call of duty when it came to human limitations. The previous army Black Shadow had sent onto Green Plant was now regarded as a feeble and unworthy attempt to win in Black Shadow's eyes, and was not surprised that the humans had beaten him. Regardless of what kind of willpower they would throw at him this time, he knew that his clone army would be unstoppable warmongers who would cast a sea of fire upon Earth.

"Where is Blaskovitz…"

Blood Falcon crossed his arms, "_Throwdown_ in the Lightning Area of Mute City."

"Throwdown..?"

"It's a sport, he hangs around a criminal infested bar that hosts a sport that combines boxing and wrestling," Blood Falcon chuckled, "Apparently he's a champion at it."

Black Shadow hummed angrily, "I don't understand. Why do all of my projects disappoint me by doing stupid things..?"

Blood Falcon laughed, "At least he's no Dark Rose."

"True…"

The two remained silent, but Blood Falcon momentarily bowed, "Worry not, I'll win this Grand Prix once more in my new machine; a demonstration of Dark Million's superior might in technology!"

Black Shadow chuckled, "You just painted your machine black and installed a new combat module; calm down…"

"Well geez…"

"Just make sure that you keep Seppuku from foiling our plan again…"

Blood Falcon grunted, "B- but Master, Seppuku was executed by the Federation…"

Black Shadow dipped his head down with an enormous smirk, he slowly turned towards Blood Falcon and chuckled, "Please…"

"Huh?"

"You honestly believe that Seppuku is dead?"

Blood Falcon shrugged, "W- well, he was electrocuted and apparently locked away."

Black Shadow swished his hand, "Electrocuted to death, yeah right." Blood Falcon continued to stare at Black Shadow in confusion, Black Shadow crossed his arms and shrugged, "Don't let the Federation fool you, no matter what they say…"

He looked back at his clone army and closed his eyes, "Seppuku lives…"

To be continued…


	2. Lap 1

==Lap 1=

In a room of complete darkness, several Federation officials stood around a glass window. The only source of light in the area was behind the window, as a lone light hung from the ceiling. Most of the men on the other side of the window were silhouetted by the darkness.

Inside of the lit up room was a darkly clothed man sitting in a metal chair, he was restrained and sitting patiently still. His hair was fairly long after having remained locked away for so long. He remained perfectly still with a calm look on his face, showing no signs of fear or resistance; he had two voltage emitters aimed towards each end of his head.

"Lieutenant Seppuku."

Seppuku grunted and immediately lowered his eyebrows angrily as a woman in a pink and red racing suit entered the room alone. Despite being restrained, he clenched his fists and growled.

"Bat…"

This was Jody Summer, chief and spokesman for the Federation; she was the one who arrested Seppuku. The two have always had a long lasting rivalry with each other, but no one would have imagined that the tension between the two would eventually lead to death. However, in this case Jody was executing Seppuku so Black Shadow would be unable to capture him for cloning; her excuse was that Seppuku had broken many laws and needed to be executed.

Jody stopped in front of him with one final loud footstep and cleared her throat. The two instantly became lost in each other's eyes. Jody sighed and nodded at him to finally break the stare off.

"Well, I apologize that the trial had to last nearly a year. If it were up to me I would have had you executed ASAP."

Seppuku smirked, "Yeah, right."

She blinked a few times with a look of discontent, "The law has finally caught you, and now you may be properly punished for your many wrongdoings. Surely, you understand that this is for the best…"

"For the best?" Jody raised an eyebrow, "So you _are_ still pissed at me for killing all those criminals as a Federation detective."

"You've killed many innocent lives!"

"When?"

Jody clenched her fists angrily and grunted; she hesitated to respond but momentarily tapped her foot down, "That prison occurrence last year. You brutally slaughtered so many of those inmates."

Seppuku began to laugh loudly at her, "Inmates? Really, that's the best you can do?"

Jody growled, "You were found guilty by the court, it doesn't matter if you believe you're innocent!"

Seppuku stared at her for several moments, then smirked again, "You don't fool me. If you really think that killing me will solve all of your problems with Black Shadow, then go ahead. But let me tell you this, if there is an afterlife; I'll be watching and laughing as you ultimately fail to save the universe from inevitable annihilation," Jody widened her eyes and began to twitch, "Do I want the universe to perish? No. But clearly you do."

Jody closed her eyes tightly and exhaled calmly, "Very well, will those be your final words to me, Lieutenant?"

Seppuku slowly grinned and chuckled, "No, just one more thing…" Jody opened her eyes, which were now very watery. Seppuku's grin revealed his teeth as he continued to chuckle.

"You better secure my coffin with metal chains, and bury me pretty deep."

Jody narrowed her eyes at him and shook negatively; she turned around and began walking towards the door, but then stopped. She turned towards him again and sighed, now moving to his side. Seppuku raised an eyebrow at her as she momentarily grabbed one of his shackles and opened it. Seppuku hummed and flexed his fingers around freely. Seppuku merely looked into her watery eyes as she stared at him.

"Good-bye, Lieutenant."

Jody held her hand out towards him, Seppuku lowered his eyebrows and nodded at her. He moved his hand up towards her and grasped it. Jody grunted as Seppuku tightly squeezed it, she knew this was done hostilely. The two proceeded to shake hands, Jody had a sad look on her face, but then got a serious one.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Chiya and Earl are safe."

Seppuku growled, "I don't care."

Jody let go of Seppuku's hand and began walking towards the door. Seppuku found that his hand was still free, but found little that he could do with it. He stared at his hand and quirked his mouth; he knew that he could use his free hand to break the execution machine-but he had another plan up his sleeve…

Jody entered the dark room and got up to the window, now staring at Seppuku with her arms crossed behind her back. A tear began to roll down her cheek as she stared at the man who was at one point her best friend. Regardless of how Jody viewed Seppuku, he had saved the entire planet of Green Plant.

"Ma'am?"

Jody lowered her eyelids and dipped her head down. She glanced over at the chair operator with quivering eyes.

"Do we _pull the plug_?"

Jody's stare intensified greatly, and she clenched her fists nervously as she stared at Seppuku.

Seppuku grasped the end of his chair tightly and proceeded to grin greatly. He turned his head back up and began to chuckle once more as he awaited his fate.

"…you can only keep me down for so long, Summer…"

Seppuku jolted his head up quickly as two bright blue electric bolts fired at both sides of his head briefly. Each side of his head now sizzled and had a dark black burn mark. Seppuku had instantly been silenced by this and now dropped his head down.

Jody bit on her finger and began to tremble, but momentarily exhaled after realizing that it was all over. She sighed and rubbed her forehead as she leaned against the window. It only took her seconds however to rush herself towards the door again. Many of the Federation officials watched as she forced herself back into the room and approached Seppuku.

Jody was still trembling as she approached Seppuku and grasped his hand; her eyes were quivering greatly as she stared at Seppuku's now blank visor. She sighed loudly while continuing to hold his hand. She bobbed her head up as she momentarily felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned her head and found Rick Wheeler behind her.

"Don't beat yourself up over this Jody, he was a criminal who needed proper punishment…"

Jody sighed again and rubbed her forehead as she looked back at Seppuku. She blinked a few times in shock after discovering that he still had a massive grin on his face. She softly patted his cheeks, but found no response to this.

"It's so strange, how did he die with that same childish grin I always pictured him with..?"

Rick looked down at Seppuku and got a disturbed look, "He was clearly a madman…"

Jody's eyes were still quivering greatly, "Perhaps, but what kind of human was he..?"

The two remained still as they both simply stared at Seppuku's grin; Rick momentarily held his waist and hummed, "Are we burying him?"

Jody almost instantly shook negatively, "We're keeping him down in the basement of the HQ until I can find his family."

"Family?"

Jody nodded, "I'll invest in tracking down his family. Brother, sister, father, mother, aunt, uncle; whoever I find, they'll get the body…" Jody frowned at Seppuku and rubbed her forehead, "I don't feel that I'll be at peace with Seppuku until I do…"

Chiya gasped loudly and forced herself onto her rear. She was softly hyperventilating in her nightgown while tucked into her bed, having just awoken from a terrible dream. She looked around her bedroom constantly in a panic, now realizing that she had only been dreaming. She frowned and looked down at her cat, Mauser, who was softly sleeping beside her.

Chiya very abruptly grabbed Mauser and brought him up to her chest, giving him a very tight hug. Mauser didn't react very much to the sudden forced awakening her master had given him. She began to stroke his fur gently as she continued to tremble, but finally she turned on her lamp and exhaled.

"Bloody Hell…" she sighed softly.

Chiya's bedroom was the smallest room in the entire Lower City base; aside from the bathroom. She had a bed, TV, lamp, drawer, mirror, and a table set up in the room. The base she and Earl lived in originally belonged to Seppuku illegally, but after being arrested, Chiya and Earl had purchased the base at long last and were now tasked with the duty of paying for appliances and taxes. Since the two were too poor however, they could only afford some appliances; the furnace heating unit being the newest addition.

Chiya finally let go of Mauser and put him back where he had been sleeping. Mauser was staring at the door aimlessly for a few moments, but finally curled back up into a ball and reentered his slumber. Unfortunately for him, Chiya had immediately grabbed him again, deciding that she wanted to pet him some more. The cat now appeared fairly irritated.

Chiya walked through the very dark hallway of the base silently in her nightgown; she was very softly sliding her feet forward rather than taking steps as she moved towards the office of Lieutenant Seppuku. She had a look of exhaustion on her face as she moved. Her bedroom was across from Earl's, so she was being careful not to accidentally awaken him. Chiya was a much more laid back person with Seppuku gone. She used to sleep in her usual attire because of fear that Seppuku would enter her room and stare at her; but now she was wearing nothing at all except for the thin grey gown. The only other piece of clothing she had on was her green stock hat.

Chiya slowly opened the door to Seppuku's office and turned on the lights. She lowered her eyelids and sighed at the empty desk; it had been months since Seppuku last sat here, yet the sight of the empty desk never grew on her. She would have used Seppuku's computer to finally dig out more information on him, but he had logged out before being arrested, and Chiya didn't know the password. Despite how serious he had always been about trespassing on his computer, both Chiya and Earl used it with a new username for general purpose research or social media activity.

Chiya slid herself behind his desk and collapsed onto the wheelie chair; she rubbed her forehead and sighed loudly. There was only one thing that Chiya could never get past, something that she did feel truly guilty about. While her decision to stay away from Seppuku during the trial was clearly justified, she always felt crushed that she had lured Seppuku into the belief that they were all a happy family, just to let him get executed without any resistance.

In a way, Chiya felt as if she had killed yet another father.

Chiya soon found herself lost staring at his computer screen. She was staring at the login page of the computer with a zoned out expression.

Chiya loudly gasped and jolted her head up as she felt two hands grasp her bare shoulders. She looked down at the fingernails of the hands as he began to stroke her shoulders; she exhaled and dipped her head down.

"What are you doing up so late?" asked Earl.

Chiya lowered her eyelids, "Why are _you_ up so late?"

Earl took a sip out of a cup and shrugged, "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night for some milk." He raised an eyebrow at Chiya, waiting for her to answer his question.

Chiya sighed again and crossed her arms over her stomach, "I had that dream again…"

Earl frowned at Chiya as he continued to give her a backrub, "The one about the giant dog?"

Chiya gasped and widened her eyes, "N- no! Not this time…" she closed her eyes and quirked her mouth sadly, "The one where Seppuku is executed…"

Earl sighed and proceeded to hug her, Chiya slightly opened her eyes sadly as he did this. He exhaled and put his chin over her shoulder.

"It's okay, Chiya. We both saw the news report that night; he's gone now…"

"I just wish I could have told him that I'm sorry…"

Earl let go of her and stood back up, "What's done is done. It was for the best, if he had been found innocent he would have come back to kill us."

Chiya let out a cute sigh and nodded, "I know…"

The two remained silent for nearly a minute; Chiya was the one who seemed most saddened by Seppuku's execution, which had occurred less than a week ago. Chiya pouted and crossed her fingers together with tired eyes. Earl slowly smirked at her and moved his hands down to her waist. Chiya widened her eyes and looked back at him.

"We can talk about this more tomorrow; you should get back to bed."

Chiya slightly nodded in agreement, she suddenly gasped as Earl somehow lifted her up into his arms. She looked into his eyes as he curved his fingers around her thigh and back.

"I'll carry you bac-"

To Earl's surprise, Chiya began to kick her feet around rapidly in resistance, "Come on, stop it! I'm not even wearing underwear right now!"

Earl widened his eyes and put Chiya back down; she quickly straightened out her gown and shook her head briefly. She breathed in and exhaled, momentarily grabbing Earl's hand and walking out of the office with him.

The following day, Earl had just exited the bathroom with wet hair. He threw on his white shirt and began walking towards the lobby, which had now been redecorated into a full-blown dining room. Chiya had reentered her bed and instantly fell back asleep without further nightmares; Earl had woken up about three hours before her and was working out in his room before taking a shower.

He approached the lobby door and flexed his fingers around before opening it, upon entering revealed Chiya sitting at the dining table with two sets of breakfast set up. She looked up at him and beamed.

"Oh, thank God. I thought your breakfast was going to get cold before you got here."

Earl grinned at the sight of perfectly cooked bacon and ham, alongside one of her now legendary vegetable dishes. She had a glass of milk set up next to his dish, however her drink was that of orange juice.

Earl sat down and exhaled excitedly at the smell of the bacon.

"Well, your cooking expertise is officially in the positive range; you went from God awful to superb at it."

Chiya gave him a thumbs up, "All thanks to the brilliant invention of the calculator!"

Chiya had a severe case of Dyscalculia, a math learning disability. This had caused her to be very bad at calculating the temperature and preheating range of the type of oven the base had, meaning she would always either burn or undercook a meal. Her dish making skills were passed down to her by her mother, Fiona Flower, and have come to be one of Chiya's great talents.

The two began to eat together; Chiya for the most part seemed to have calmed down about Seppuku's execution and was prepared to get another day on with. Chiya and Earl found themselves in the middle of what the F-Zero community called _Pre-Season _; where F-Zero races would open up that isn't relevant to the annual Grand Prix. In her entire career, Chiya had participated in two pre-season racers; she lost a Bet Race, and won an Auction Race.

Earl smirked at Chiya after finishing the bacon. Chiya looked up with him with the same smile, but momentarily widened her eyes and dropped the smile.

"D- did I not make enough bacon?"

Earl chuckled as he now chewed on his ham, Chiya waited for him to finish chewing his food. He swallowed and took a sip of his milk, then looked at her.

"You did, but it's just been awhile since I had the chance to eat any form of meat," he laughed and looked down at his dish, "Your dishes are great, but I was eating so much of it that I could probably call myself a vegetarian."

Chiya looked down at her food, she was the complete opposite, having only dug into her dish without touching any meat. She momentarily widened her eyes at the feeling of something fuzzy rubbing against her leg—it was Mauser. Chiya began to whistle a soft tune as she pulled a piece of bacon from her plate and dropped it on the floor.

"Oops!"

Earl raised an eyebrow at her; she had a fake smile and cleared her throat as she continued to eat. Mauser quickly began to chew on the small strip, tearing off the rubbery bits of fat with his teeth. Chiya never knew how old Mauser was when she discovered him, but she was guessing that he was four. Mauser would be going to the vet for the first time this year for a checkup.

Chiya smiled at her cat as it quickly finished eating the strip of bacon, temptation led Chiya to pick up another strip of bacon and drop it onto the floor. Earl raised his eyebrows upon hearing a second strip slap the ground. He grinned at Chiya and tapped his fingers down a few times.

"Just be careful, Chiya. Neither a cat or dog should consume too much of that greasy fat."

Chiya gasped and looked back down at Mauser, who already had the whole strip in his mouth.

"Mauser sweetie, drop the bacon!"

As if Mauser felt that his food was being threatened, he darted off and leapt through the lobby cat door. Chiya widened her eyes and covered her mouth.

"Oh no!"

Earl softly chuckled and shook negatively.

The two had finished breakfast about fifteen minutes later and were now sitting on the couch in Earl's room. There were now two televisions in Earl's room, they had taken the large screened TV from Seppuku's office to make Earl's room more of a living room. The two hadn't determined what they would be doing today, so they were simply watching a show about buying antique items.

An obese man in a black jacket was behind a counter as a pale man approached the counter.

"What do you have for me to buy?"

The man sniffed and placed a metal helmet on the counter, "I've got this real twenty-first century soldier helmet from the People's Republic of Korea."

Earl widened his eyes at the screen, Chiya quickly looked up at him.

"That must be worth a lot."

Earl nodded, "Yeah! I would never sell such an artifact!"

The owner smirked, "U-uh, well, I'll give you about fifty credits for it."

The man immediately nodded, "Deal I'll sell the helmet for fifty credits."

Earl and Chiya both began to complain aloud at the TV, especially Earl. Earl flailed his hands at the screen while grinding his teeth.

"That's so stupid! You could buy a replica helmet for that much!"

Chiya puckered her lips, "Maybe it was broken-"

"Fifty credits! This guy isn't cool, he's a con artist! Nothing but a con artist!" he closed his eyes tightly and sighed, then dropped his hands down, "But anyways…"

Chiya put her legs over his lap and laid her head back against her arms. Earl glanced at her as she simply closed her eyes.

"I'm still tired…"

"But you slept for so long…"

Chiya nodded, "I just want the annual Grand Prix to start so I can get the motivation to get up and do things."

Earl smiled and closed his eyes, "I guess I see your point; it almost gets boring not having all of the drama and dangers surrounding us."

The two remained silent for several moments, Chiya now had a very soft look on her face as she was officially trying to fall asleep on his couch. Earl rubbed his chin nervously and looked down at her.

"Hey, Chiya…" she slightly opened one eye and looked up at him. He began to wiggle his fingers around frantically with a nervous expression. "I was thinking, it's almost been two years since we first met, and uh, I had something special in mind to celebrate this…"

Chiya instantly shot open her eyes and beamed, she flipped onto her back and looked at Earl excitedly.

"Y- yes, Earl..?"

Chiya crossed her fingers and was rubbing her left ring finger. The two had been friends for nearly two years now, having first met on the day of the first annual Grand Prix race. The previous year they had officially began dating, and now Chiya wanted the full package. Chiya now dreamed of Earl proposing to her and having a child.

Earl grabbed her hands and looked her in the eyes, she gritted her teeth with a surprised look and swallowed. She was waiting for the proposal at any moment, which Earl appeared to be struggling to cough out of his mouth. Earl closed his eyes and smiled again nervously.

"Well, I hope my proposal isn't going to disturb you…"

Chiya gasped at the word, _proposal_, she smiled heavily with her eyes about to water up.

"Oh my Gosh, yes, I'll-"

"How did you know what I was going to propose?"

Chiya raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head; Earl rolled his eyes playfully and dipped his head down.

"I'm proposing that in celebration of the two year anniversary of us meeting, we could turn this room officially into a living room."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows in confusion, "What does that have to do with-" she then widened her eyes.

"I was thinking, if you want, I could push my bed into your room and…" Earl scratched his neck as he was trying to think of a way not to make this sound perverse, "Basically, we could combine beds and just share your room…"

Chiya frowned for a moment after understanding that this wasn't a marriage proposal. None-the-less, she beamed back at him and nodded quickly.

"Yes! So we would always sleep in the same bed?"

Earl nodded with a grin, "Yeah, why not."

Chiya sat up and began to bounce on the cushions of the couch excitedly, "Oh man! This will be so fun, you haven't slept in my room since the Green Plant battle, well, we haven't even slept in the same bed since we went to Mom's house last summer!"

Earl rubbed the back of his head somewhat nervously, understanding that this would greatly increase the chances of a night of romance turning into something _much more_. He got a nervous smile and nodded.

"All the best for my favorite flower…"

The following evening, a man in a white shirt, red bowtie, and black pants was up behind the counter of an Upper City café. The sun was going down and he had no customers in the establishment. He yawned and locked the door to the storage room, finally, he came walking around the counter towards the door. This was a rich man known as Bart Lemming.

He grabbed the Opened/Closed sign off of the counter and walked towards the glass door while chuckling.

"Well done Lemming, another day of one or two customers…" he muttered sarcastically with a grin.

He put the sign up on the door and flipped it to _Closed_. Just as he reached out for the light switch to the establishment, Chiya had slammed herself against the glass door. Bart instantly leapt back and gasped.

"Hi, Bart!"

Earl momentarily walked up from behind, Bart exhaled and rubbed his forehead, "Ms. Flower, you scared the dickens out of me…"

Earl tapped on the glass a few times, "Come on, let us in."

Bart dipped his head down, "B- but, I was about to go home…" he looked down at Chiya and rolled his eyes, "Oh, who am I kidding…"

He unlocked the door and let the two in, they both charged in like children. Bart grunted as they immediately made themselves at home. Bart lowered his eyebrows and turned off the lights to half the establishment; leaving only the lights above their seats on. Earl and Chiya sat in their usual spots as Bart made his way back around the counter.

"This is the latest you two have ever showed up, I was about to close up shop."

Chiya clapped her hands together, "Oh, great! Cause' we need love advice!"

Bart widened his eyes and grunted, he unrolled his sleeve and slapped his cheek upon looking at the watch, "Well, look at the time! I really must be getting home-"

"Come o-on…"

Bart shut his eyes tightly and exhaled, "What kind of love advice..?"

Chiya and Earl exchanged glances; Earl slowly looked back at Bart and rubbed his chin, "Where on Big Blue should we go to celebrate our two year friendship anniversary?"

"Friendship anniversary? I've known you much longer than Ms. Flower here, why don't we have a friendship anniversary?"

Earl instantly widened his eyes and began to turn red; Chiya forced her eyes shut and began to giggle intensely. Bart dipped his head down and gritted his teeth after immediately finding what he did wrong.

"Anyways, so uh, Big Blue?"

"We met each other two years ago on the day of the first race, therefore this year's Big Blue race will have to be where we celebrate it."

Bart smirked, "How romantic."

Earl brought his hands together and raised an eyebrow, "So-o…"

"You could rent out one of the water towers the planet has. They're large spires that stick out from the planet's surface and rise far above the water. You'll be catered to like royalty, have a nice view of the birds, and a gorgeous view of the water."

Both Earl and Chiya beamed at this, she began to clap her hands excitedly.

"Oh boy! How much does this cost!?"

Bart lowered his eyelids and cleared his throat, "Ten-thousand credits…"

Both Earl and Chiya lowered their eyelids in disappointment.

"I'm not going to make that much money working here again…" muttered Chiya.

Earl crossed his arms angrily at Bart, "Why did you get our hopes up?"

"I'm sorry; I'm just so rich I often forget that you poor folks can't afford all of this."

Chiya beamed again, "Hey, Bart, what if all three of us rent it out?"

"I'll be busy that day."

She frowned and momentarily sighed. Earl rubbed his chin and shrugged, "Maybe if I tune up Captain Falcon's machine to perform better, he'll pay me that much," Earl looked at Bart and hummed, "Did you install the new engine into the Blue Falcon?"

Bart nodded, "Yeah, but-"

"Can I help maintain the Blue Falcon too?" Chiya asked with a smile.

"No."

"No."

She widened her eyes and nodded at the two. Earl had been revealed the past year to actually be part of Captain Falcon's pit crew; a job he obtained through his friendship with Bart Lemming. Regardless of his role as a _Blue Falcon_ mechanic, he was more centered on being Chiya's mechanic.

"Unfortunately, we can't risk meddling around with the Blue Falcon's engine with the annual Grand Prix so close…" said Earl.

Earl snapped his fingers and sighed, "Oh well, the planet will be nice either way…"

Bart smiled at the two, "Don't worry, I'll think of something you two can do that might bring in that much cash." Bart looked up at the two again, happy to see that the two were pleased, "So, what else is on the Flower-Bendek plate?"

Chiya gasped happily and snapped her fingers, "Oh! Oh! Me and Earl are going to start doing something together soon!"

Earl raised a confused eyebrow, Bart nodded, "Do tell."

Chiya had a look of excitement on her face, "So, Earl told me that on our anniversary, we're going to push beds together; that way we can always sleep together!"

Bart grunted and widened his eyes; Earl gritted his teeth and swished his attention towards Chiya.

"We're going to have so much fun!"

Bart and Earl both had red faces and were staring at each other, as Bart had clearly looked at this the wrong way.

About twenty seconds later the door slammed shut and the _Closed_ sign swung from the door. Chiya and Earl stood next to the door as the lights all turned off. Earl sighed and dropped his arms down. Chiya momentarily punched his arm and puckered her lips.

"I think Bart's just a bit jealous, eh?"

Chiya later found herself lying alone on her bed after driving home from the café. She was staring up at the ceiling aimlessly, much like when she first arrived at the base. Mauser was sitting on her belly as she sat alone on the bed in boredom. Despite the great affection Earl and Chiya share together, they still desired time to themselves—or more specifically, Earl desired time to himself.

"I wish I had another hobby, Mauser…" she sighed loudly and turned her head towards the mirror in her room, she frowned and got a sad look, "Why does he never tell me that I'm pretty..?"

Chiya was a fairly self-conscious person and would often get worked up at imperfections that she may have. She was very hesitant when it came to taking off her stock hat or socks, but oddly enough she was calm when it came to walking around in only a bra. Chiya was also aware of the fact that Earl had a foot fetish, so she would go to lengths to try and avoid walking around barefoot. She didn't judge Earl for his strange lust, as she had a lust for muscular men; which was no secret to Earl.

She momentarily lowered her eyebrows and got a stern look on her face, suddenly coming up with something that she could do. She set Mauser aside and leapt off of her bed. After landing on the floor, she clenched her fists with two fingers curved on her right hand. She stomped her feet down into a combat stance and quirked her mouth. This was a futuristic Korean martial art called _Seoli Idong_.

Earl was now walking down the hallway of the base after having gone to the bathroom. He scratched his chin and licked his lips as he imagined what Chiya may make the two for dinner. Upon approaching his door, he could hear constant cute grunts coming from his rear. He kept his hand around his doorknob, but now stopped to listen. He knew this was Chiya, but he was merely curious as to what she could be doing.

He turned around and lowered his eyebrows in confusion, "Does Chiya secretly lift?"

He approached her door and immediately knocked a few times, "Are you alright, Chiya?"

Chiya didn't respond, rather she continued to grunt loudly. Earl widened his eyes and grasped the doorknob, as he was fearing that something had happened to her. He slowly opened the door and peeked inside, but was relieved to see that Chiya wasn't in danger. He was, however, surprised to find her constantly kicking and punching in the air.

Chiya was making very swift attacks in the air and leaping back and forth constantly. Earl smirked at her and rubbed his arms as he watched her break a sweat practicing what he had once taught her. Chiya locked her foot back with her teeth barred and let out a very loud grunt as she kicked into the air. She gasped as Earl had immediately grasped her foot and smirked at her. Her initial fright had nearly caused her to fall over.

"O- okay! Let me go!"

Earl did as he was asked and crossed his arms at her, Chiya planted her feet down firmly and looked him in the eyes.

"I thought you needed _Earl time_."

"Yeah, but then I saw Chiya Flower, practicing a Korean art, used in the military. Three of my favorite things."

"I'm a woman, not a thing."

Earl cracked his knuckles and smirked at her, "You know, we haven't sparred in months; I thought you had given up on this."

Chiya smiled and nodded, "Not since I had been captured by Black Shadow."

"That's not true," Chiya grunted at him, "We did fight, three times I believe—only those encounters were the real deal."

Chiya chuckled, "Ah, right then; Excalibur."

The previous year, Earl had taken on the secret identity of a Northern Korean mercenary by the name of _Excalibur_. Earl's goal as Excalibur was to stop Black Shadow in his plans of destroying the human race, while he failed to destroy Black Shadow himself, he did stop their attack on Green Plant because of him. Chiya had stopped Excalibur on accident by shooting his legs, only later for Chiya to discover that this was actually Earl.

Earl grinned at Chiya and backed towards his door, "Well, how about a rematch…"

Chiya grinned and pointed at him, "I'll kick your ass this time, Excalibur!"

The two later stood adjacent from each other in Earl's room, they had a blue rubber mat set up on the floor. The two now had their footwear off and were in their socks so that they could kick. Earl had a determined grin on his face as he stared into Chiya's eyes; she had a very bland expression on her face. The general first rule of Seoli Idong, was to mask one's expression. Earl's grin was clearly fake, but Chiya would never know if he was nervous or optimistic about the fight because of this.

"Alright, same rule as last year. First person to hit their chest on the floor loses."

Chiya growled and poked her breast, "…this isn't very fair…"

Earl shrugged, "Well, won't they just press down-"

"Come on then, let us do the Seoli Idong!"

Earl snapped his fingers with a smirk, "Alright, go."

Chiya let out a cute growl and took a few steps towards Earl; he approached her slowly as well, but with little signs of desire to attack her. She felt that Earl would always start off on the defensive and not attack her, meaning she had to get a good initial strike on him. The two remained silent as they tried focusing on one another; Earl had broken his grin and now had an expressionless look.

Earl swiftly looked down for a moment and found that Chiya had raised herself, now standing on her toes. Upon discovering this, Chiya had leapt at him. Earl saw through this and had moved aside quickly, but Chiya managed to keep herself from falling. Earl grabbed Chiya's waist, but she had swiped her foot back and knocked him down. Earl grunted and fell to his knees as Chiya stood up and got back into a combat stance. Earl rolled away from her and got up as well.

Earl smirked at her, "Don't rely on your feet too much, it's not part of Seoli Idong."

Chiya didn't respond to this, rather she took the opportunity to charge at Earl. He remained still as Chiya charged at him, but she knew that he would merely dash to the side and grab her, so she knew that she had to prepare to spin around and grab her. The only problem she was faced with however was which way he would dash.

Chiya leapt forward, but as predicted he had dashed to her side. Chiya saw through this and spun around with one foot, instantly grasping onto him. Earl gasped as he was quickly smacked across the face. His head was sent back, and Chiya proceeded to slap his hands away with her left hand as she reached out for Earl's neck. Earl wrapped his arm around her as she locked his head under her shoulder. The two brought each other down to the ground.

Chiya was pinning him down to the mat, but not on his chest. Earl was trying to use his might to flip Chiya over, but she had the exact same idea.

"Go down!" shouted Chiya.

"Y- you need to find a way to stop my pushing, if you do that, you can easily flip me over."

Chiya narrowed her eyes at Earl as she continued to push on him, she found no way that she could break Earl's gasp without breaking her own. As the two struggled to defeat each other, Mauser had entered the room and had begun to approach them. Earl and Chiya's faces were coming closer together as they both growled.

"…when is dinner gonna' be ready..?" growled Earl.

"…a- after I beat you..!"

The two momentarily stopped fighting as Mauser walked up to them. Earl lowered his eyebrows in frustration and growled at the cat.

"Not now M-"

"Mauser!" Chiya spat out happily.

Chiya rolled away from Earl and grabbed Mauser, instantly beginning to roll around with the cat in her arms.

She began to laugh playfully as she rolled around the mat constantly while hugging her cat. Earl stood up and quirked his mouth.

"Um, aren't we fighting?"

Chiya continued to laugh as she rolled around the mat, "Mauser! Mauser! Mauser! Mauser!" she repeated happily.

Earl was somewhat annoyed that the cat had ruined what was supposed to be an all-out sparring match, but he smiled for Chiya none-the-less. He sighed and closed his eyes while chuckling.

"I'll go set up the dinner table…" Earl muttered as he walked away from her.

Jody Summer was lying in her bed with a troubled look on her face as she slept. Jody didn't actually own a house; rather she slept in the Galactic Space Federation HQ, a massive building that towers over all of Mute City. She continuously quirked her mouth as she slept uncomfortably, but momentarily opened her eyes with an irritated look.

"…what…" she muttered demandingly in irritation.

Jody grasped the side of her bed almost robotically and lifted herself up. She instantly began marching towards her door with an annoyed expression. She grasped the doorknob and forced it open while twitching.

Dr. Stewart and John Tanaka stood behind the door, Stewart had his hand up in the air as if he were about to knock. These were two Federation officers, F-Zero racers, and great friends of Jody.

"…what?" demanded Jody.

Tanaka had a quivering smile of fear, "H- how did you know that we were about-"

"What do you two want?"

Stewart lowered his eyebrows, "Jody, you're usually up to the crack of dawn; now you're going to bed before everybody in Japan."

"So?"

Stewart cleared his throat, "Did you even have dinner?"

"No."

"You should eat, Jody."

Tanaka raised his finger up and grinned, "You wanna' eat with us!?"

Jody glared at him and grinded her teeth, "No!"

She tried slamming the door shut, but Stewart had quickly forced his foot between the crack to stop it. Jody looked up at him and growled.

"Jody, it's no secret to anyone why you're so upset."

"I'm not upset! I have to work more than anyone in this damn building!"

Stewart shook negatively and tapped his foot down a few times, "I'm a doctor Jody, I've seen this all before." Jody narrowed her eyes at him angrily, "You're still disturbed at the fact that Seppuku is gone, it's normal, but you need to try and move on."

Jody gasped and stomped her foot down, "What are you talking about!? I hated that man! He's gone and it has only improved the world!"

"Jody, you have his body down in the cellar..."

"I explained that part already, once I find his family, I'll hand his body off to them. Once I do that, I will finally be free of the Lieutenant and can live the rest of my life happily working as the-"

"Okay, okay, whatever you say. But honestly, you still have a lot of the night left; don't waste it sleeping."

Jody continued to shake her fist at him, but momentarily closed her eyes with a quivering frown. She shook negatively and gave a hostile glare.

"You two, leave me be. The Grand Prix is around the corner and I…" she tightly closed her eyes and grabbed her door, "Dammit, I need bed rest!"

She slammed the door shut and locked the door behind her. She exhaled loudly and began walking towards her bed, she got under her blankets again and growled while rubbing her forehead.

She closed her eyes and quirked her mouth again.

"A life without the Lieutenant, is a better life…" she argued aloud.

To be continued…


	3. Lap 2

==Lap 2=

The day had passed; Chiya and Earl had already gotten up to start yet another day. While the two would hang out with each other most of the time, both still desired to have some amount of privacy away from each other at times. The fact that the two could hardly stay away from each other was enough proof to Chiya that it was time to wed. Whether Earl was interested in marriage or having a baby with her was beyond her. Before the two were dating, Earl would commonly go on about how he would only do such things with a girl when he was thirty or older; he was turning thirty the day the Grand Prix would start. Ironically, both Chiya and Earl shared the same birthday; therefore Chiya would be turning twenty-five on that day.

Earl was humming a military tune aloud as he showered in hot water. This was the first year that they could enjoy an unlimited amount of hot water, as they now paid for water as homeowners. Seppuku had a custom made water source installed previously to the base, but it only allowed for about five minutes of hot water every five hours.

Earl's humming turned into whistling as he scrubbed his arms with soap. He opened his eyes as water dripped down his bangs; he slowly looked down at his arm and puckered his lips as he scrubbed.

"Oh man, look at these guns…" He rinsed the bubbles off of his arm and smirked at the fair amount of muscles he had, "I can see why Chiya would wanna' rub on these rockets…"

Chiya kicked open the door to the hallway with completely shot open eyes, she dropped some plastic bags on the floor that she had gotten at the Upper City mall. Chiya crossed her legs and held her crotch as she quickly pranced down the hallway towards the bathroom.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man!"

She ran up to the door while bouncing up and down constantly, but momentarily heard the sound of the shower. She gasped and gritted her teeth as she continued to bounce constantly.

She began to pound on the door constantly and very loudly.

Earl widened his eyes and gasped, quickly getting behind the shower curtain, "O- occupied!"

"Ea-arl! I rea-ally need the bathroom!"

Earl dipped his head down and grunted, "Can't you hold it for about three more minutes? I'm still washing my hair."

"No! I need to pee, right, now!"

Earl grabbed the showerhead and forced the water onto his head, he roughly rubbed his head trying to get the shampoo off.

Chiya very tightly bit her lip and closed her eyes, feeling that she could explode at any moment.

"Why did I have to get two extra-large sodas!?" she dropped down onto the floor while holding her crotch, she groaned and very sharply bit on her lip, "My little Chiya bladder is about to explode all over the floor..!"

She continued to kick her feet down constantly as she was hardly able to hold her bladder any longer. She widened her eyes and began to pound on the door again.

"Come on, Earl! I can't hold it for another second!"

"I need to dressed, hold on!"

Chiya tightly closed her eyes again and curled up into a ball as she kicked her feet constantly. _I'll be honest; I'm about fifty-fifty on just going in there and doing my business in front of him. I need to release..!_ she slightly opened her eye and gasped at the sight of something inside of her bedroom. She was staring at Mauser's litterbox. She gritted her teeth and lowered her eyebrows. _W- would that work..?_

About two minutes later, Earl kicked open the bathroom door and leapt out into the hallway.

"Bathroom is all yours!"

He grunted and raised an eyebrow as he looked around for Chiya, but within a few moments her door opened and she came out with a smile. Earl raised an eyebrow at her and cleared his throat.

"U-uh, bathroom is all yours."

Chiya walked past him and swished her hand, "Nah, I'm good now."

Earl simply stood still in confusion as Chiya entered Seppuku's office, he scratched his forehead and quirked his mouth.

"W- what?"

Chiya was later sitting behind Seppuku's desk and was on the computer; she was on her multi-media profile and was gazing at all of her fans. Neither Chiya nor Earl originally had access to the online world, but with Seppuku gone they now had access to the only computer in the base. Chiya got a silly smile and simply posted _Hi_ on her profile. She widened her eyes as the simple message was instantly being shared and favorite by man users.

"I, am, God!" she joked, she momentarily closed her eyes and closed her eyes, "I mean, not really, God is my God, please don't send me to Hell…"

Chiya looked down at the screen and widened her eyes at a news report she stumbled upon. There was a video attached to the report; it was about F-Zero.

"Click," she said aloud.

After watching a flashy video opening, a female reporter stood around the F-Zero committee building with an optimistic look.

"As the annual Grand Prix approaches once again, many of the racers have already begun training and tuning their machines. We were told by the committee that to fill in for the four vacant racers, Michael Chain, The Skull, Lieutenant Seppuku, and Brock Blaskovitz; three new racers, or at least three uncommon racers will be racing this year."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously, "Please be nice people…"

"Rick Wheeler and his machine, the Dragon Bird, will be racing for the Federation once again this year. Wheeler has been known to only participate in the Grand Prix every so often, and has been credited for having a very challenging machine."

"I remember him…" she muttered at the screen.

"Along with Rick Wheeler, is Lily Flyer and her machine, the Bunny Flash. This machine is small and fairly incapable of properly attacking machines, but the pilot of the machine is very aggressive towards her opponents; making her one to generally be feared. Surprisingly, Lily works for the Federation."

Chiya widened her eyes at the sight of the third person, then narrowed her eyes somewhat hostilely.

"Lastly, the Magican princess, Princia Ramode returns with the Spark Moon, a machine some may argue is equivalent to the Blue Falcon. Princia joining the race again is by far the biggest shock and begs for an answer," she pulled up a photo of Chiya Flower, "Chiya Flower versus Princia Ramode, Mysteria versus Magica, a destined and inevitable rivalry; Mysteria and Magica will clearly be waging war once more, but this time on the track!"

Chiya bit on her finger nervously, and without further hesitation she leapt up and ran out the door.

Earl was in the garage staring at the _Red Dove_, the machine of Lieutenant Seppuku. The machine had been sitting still in the garage for months on the account that Seppuku possessed the key to turn it on. Earl rubbed his chin and prepared to climb aboard the _Red Dove_, he had been researching possible ways he could hotwire the machine for a few months now, but was finding no luck.

Chiya had suddenly charged into the garage with a panicked look on her face, Earl swung around towards her and widened his eyes.

"Something up?"

Chiya ran up to him and began to flail her arms around aimlessly; Earl merely lowered his eyebrows in confusion at this strange behavior. Chiya widened her eyes and stopped; now merely appearing panicked.

"Earl, Princia is in the Grand Prix this year!"

Earl lowered his eyelids and quirked his mouth, "Princia, Princia who-" he widened his eyes and snapped his fingers, "The princess of Magica?"

"Yes!"

Earl closed his eyes and sighed, "Great, she'll probably want revenge for last year's fiasco…"

Chiya and Earl had infiltrated Princia's Palace a year ago disguised as officials from the Proletarian planet of Mysteria. Chiya was dressed as the heir to the throne, while Earl was her husband. Shortly into the dinner with Princia, Earl had blown their cover and ended up getting the two locked up. Lily Flyer had arrived to rescue them, but resulted in many Magican guards getting killed in the process.

"I'm not very concerned about the fact that she'll probably be a rival," Earl hummed and raised an eyebrow, "But I represent Mysteria, she represents Magica. If I lost to Princia, I would have brought the ultimate shame to my planet!"

Earl sighed and nodded, "Mysteria and Magica may have opened up their hotlines again, but diplomatic relations are just as sour as ever…"

"On the other hand, if I were to beat Princia on the track, this would demonstrate the superior might of a Mysterian and bring great honor to my people."

Earl grabbed her shoulder and shook negatively, "Careful, Chi', the best case scenario would be to not crush any feelings. Mysterians and Magicans should try being friends, not foes; this possible F-Zero rivalry could further damage diplomatic relations."

Chiya sighed and nodded, "Then I'll just have to race harder and smarter…"

"Look at the positives; last I checked both Lily and Rick liked you. Lily to a lesser extent…"

"Both are in the Federation, and I doubt that Jody likes us anymore. The last time she contacted us was October, and that was just to tell us that Seppuku had been found guilty."

Earl growled, "Yeah…"

Chiya leaned against the _Red Dove_ and quirked her mouth, "So, can we go practice around Red Canyon?"

Earl grinned and quickly nodded, "Yeah, why not."

Chiya pulled out her machine key and pressed a button, thus opening the cockpit to the _Purring Kitten_. Earl walked ahead of her and leapt onto the body of her machine, quickly sitting down and grasping a handlebar that was bolted to the outside of her machine. Chiya climbed aboard from the other side and got inside of the cockpit.

The _Purring Kitten_ was a one seated machine, the _Red Dove_ was two seated but couldn't be powered on without the key. Earl originally had a regular vehicle, but he had crashed it while drunk driving the previous year, thus injuring Chiya; he hadn't drank ever since. Since the two currently had no two seated vehicles available, Earl had installed a handlebar to the outside of her machine that he could hold onto; this was very dangerous, but Earl had gotten used to this method of getting around.

Chiya turned on the machine and checked her surroundings, Earl put on a wireless headset as she began to spin the machine towards the garage door. Chiya looked down at her headset and grasped it, momentarily putting it on her head. These were the devices the two would use to communicate with each other during the Grand Prix.

The large door to the base had opened and Chiya quickly hit the accelerator. The two made a sharp turn out of the garage and began driving away at top speed. The garage door closed behind them, but this was no ordinary garage door; this door was disguised with the appearance of a wall. When closed, the door simply camouflaged in with the walling of the base.

Earl and Chiya proceeded down the streets of the Lower City, making their way to the Upper City. Red Canyon was a few miles outside of Mute City once the two would hit the main highway of the Upper City.

Jody Summer was sitting at her desk with fairly red eyes, she was holding her forehead tightly as she did paperwork. Her eyes were centered on the paperwork, but she wasn't watching where her pen was going as she wrote. Despite the lack of focus, her penmanship was excellent and she was staying on the lines. Jody's hand was trembling as she wrote, she signed her name in cursive at the bottom of the paper and slashed an _X _at the end of her name.

She slapped her pen down on the desk and groaned loudly after yawning. She still had plenty of paperwork to do, but was simply too exhausted and needed a break.

Jody pushed herself back in her chair and momentarily stood up, she walked towards the large glass wall behind her and placed her hand against it. She blinked a few times as she gazed towards Mt. Fuji, which was easily visible from the Federation HQ. She lowered her eyebrows and brought her hands together as she stared at the beauty of the mountain. Her concentration was quickly disrupted at the sight of a disturbing smile appearing in the window's reflection. She widened her eyes and gasped, quickly spinning around. She was instantly faced with John Tanaka, who had a silly nervous smile.

"Well, hi there, Jody!"

Jody gritted her teeth and crossed her hand over her throat, "Tanaka, what are you doing trying to scare me like that?"

Tanaka rubbed the back of his head and shrugged, "Sorry, Jody!"

She sighed and dropped her arms, "Uh, I apologize. How can I help?"

"Well, you seemed kinda' upset last night, and I just wanted to apologize by-"

"It's fine."

Tanaka swallowed and twirled his foot around, "Yeah, well, u-uh…"

Jody crossed her arms and cleared her throat, "Is that all?"

"N- no, I wanted to ask you something," Jody merely raised an eyebrow at him, Tanaka let out a whistle and continued to rub his head, "Um, I was thinking that you and I could go out and do something tonight, l- like bowling..?"

Jody widened her eyes at the mentioning of bowling, instantly having flashbacks storm through her head. She looked right past Tanaka towards a display case in her office, there stood a golden bowling tournament trophy. Jody, Seppuku, and Dr. Stewart had won this many years ago.

"Oh, bowling…"

"I know you like bowling, I mean, I'm not good at it, but we can still have a good time I'm sure!"

Jody sighed and dipped her head down, "I'm so exhausted, maybe I do need to have a little fun…"

Tanaka smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we can just bowl a bit and maybe do other stuff around the Upper City."

Jody faintly smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I guess we could have some fun tonight…" Tanaka beamed at Jody excitedly as she accepted the offer, "-just go tell Stewart, Clash, Rick, and Jack that we'll be doing bowling tonight; on me."

Tanaka grunted loudly with a quivering lip, "Oh, uh, y- you mean-"

"Good idea, John. The team could use a morale boost, especially me."

Tanaka sighed and dipped his head down, "…no problem…"

Earl later stood still in the middle of a Red Canyon gorge with a timer, Chiya was driving around the gorge trying to perform various sharp turns. Earl's destroyed car was in the middle of the gorge, the front of the vehicle was smashed from the accident they had gotten in.

Earl adjusted his headset and nodded approvingly, "You've gotten much faster at making turns, I'm just wondering if we should tune up your machine's acceleration at the expense of a little maximum speed."

"No thank you, I like the current maximum speed."

Earl quirked his mouth and nodded, "I guess that makes the Purring Kitten an offensive machine, you could probably take down any opponent with ease at its current status."

"I'm going to drive down a straight path and see how fast I can go."

Earl nodded and reset the timer; he waited for Chiya to reach the end of the gorge. She did a quick powerslide and repositioned herself, she gripped the steering wheel tightly and glanced over at Earl.

"Timer's set, are you ready?"

Chiya nodded to herself, "Ready."

Earl held his hand up in the air and momentarily clenched his fist, "Go!"

The _Purring Kitten_ took off quickly with the speed limiter set up to maximum. Chiya lowered her eyebrows and stared at the destroyed vehicle in the middle of the gorge, she was coming towards it faster ever second that went by. She looked down at her speedometer and raised an eyebrow.

"Nine-hundred-eighty kilometers an hour."

Earl rubbed his chin and grinned, "Come on baby, get over one-thousand…"

Chiya widened her eyes and quirked her mouth, "B- baby?"

"I meant your machine…"

Chiya gritted her teeth as she found herself now going 991 km/h; unfortunately he machine seemed to struggle going any faster. She looked up ahead and found that she was coming up on the end of the gorge quickly. She was determined to get herself at least at 992 km/h. She watched as the number flickered 991 and 992 constantly; making it clear to her that 992 km/h was the absolute maximum speed she could go. After the number finally stayed on 992, she hit the brakes and did another powerslide.

Earl grinned at the machine and stopped the timer.

"Twenty-two seconds."

Chiya snapped her fingers and sighed, "Bloody Hell, why do I keep finishing with twenty-two seconds?"

Earl shrugged to himself, "How about you practice side attacking my vehicle at maximum speed."

Chiya looked back at the destroyed yellow vehicle and nodded. The reason for having this in the gorge was so Chiya could practice attacking it; as she would have less than a second to slam against the vehicle. Obviously during a race she would attack a racer at an equal speed, but attacking a non-moving object was great practice; as this would help her precision.

Up above a cliff stood two men, one was looking down at the _Purring Kitten_ with a pair of binoculars. The man holding the binoculars had a mighty Japanese katana securely against his waist, oval sunglasses, a ripped brown leather jacket, and a green racer helmet with a Japanese battle flag attached to the front. This was Samurai Goroh, the notorious leader of a well renowned pirate gang; he was also an F-Zero racer. Alongside him was Antonio Guster, a man who had been betrayed by Goroh but now works alongside him once again. Guster wore a long white duster with camouflage pants, a blue shirt, and a blue racing helmet.

Goroh smirked as the _Purring Kitten_ attempted to smash into the disabled vehicle, but she missed.

"Looks like the little Flower is out for a joyride…"

Guster crossed his arms and shrugged, "I'd reckon that she's practicing for the Grand Prix."

"Well, I would reckon that she's looking for a fight…"

Guster shook negatively, "She's just trying to race, no need to provoke her!"

Goroh cracked his knuckles, "I beg to differ…"

Guster approached the cliff and looked down at the machine, "I bet she'd look real pretty if she had won all that money. Probably would've fixed herself up all nice with makeup and lipstick."

Goroh began to flail his arms wildly, "But Guster! Seppuku stole the million credits in prize money that we rightfully earned! She needs to pay…"

"_She_ needs to pay for something Seppuku did?"

Goroh cracked his knuckles, "Prize money is prize money, I don't care if Seppuku's dead; I need money…"

Chiya came driving towards the vehicle again at about 960 km/h, she narrowed her eyes and focused on the still vehicle. Her finger was trembling on the side attack button as she got closer and closer. As soon as the very front of the machine aligned with the vehicle, she side attacked. Chiya chuckled victoriously as she sent the vehicle propelling into the air with ease. The vehicle landed upside down and proceeded to drag along the dirt for several yards.

Chiya smirked and continued to drive towards the end of the gorge, but something had caught her eye at the last second. She grunted and hit the brakes, momentarily spinning around and driving towards Earl.

The _Fire Stingray_ and _Green Panther_ were driving down the rocks towards the gorge. As to how they were driving down the rocks without falling was beyond her. Chiya did a powerslide in front of Earl and flailed her hands in the air.

"Get on!"

Earl raised an eyebrow at her, then widened his eyes as the two pirates landed in the gorge and began driving towards them. It was too late; Earl knew that trying to escape the two racers at this point would be farfetched.

"Get out, Chiya."

Chiya nervously acknowledged the request and opened her cockpit, she leapt down next to Earl and held onto him with a frightened expression. The two watched as the _Fire Stingray_ stopped in front of the _Purring Kitten_. Goroh forced open his cockpit and jumped out of his machine while grinding his teeth. Guster got out of his machine and approached Goroh from behind.

Chiya narrowed her eyes at Goroh and hissed, "Samurai Goroh…"

Chiya greatly despised Goroh, as he had stabbed Earl and killed several security officers aboard a transport ship two years ago. Despite the fact that Goroh had allied with her for the final race the previous year, her respect for him hadn't improved at the slightest.

Earl raised an eyebrow at the approaching pirates, "What do you guys want?"

Goroh began to flail his arms wildly at Chiya as he approached her, "You cheated me out of the prize money last year! You _promised_ that I would get a couple million if I helped you!"

"If I won, and I lost; what do you want me to do about it?"

Goroh swung his finger towards her and chuckled obnoxiously, "I want compensation!"

Earl sarcastically chuckled, "Compensation?"

"For the prize money you stole- !"

"Yeah, yeah, we got that part."

Chiya rubbed her chin and shook negatively, "Sammy, none of us got money. If I could give you the money for helping me, I would, but I simply didn't win the prize money."

Guster crossed his arms and chuckled, "We both lost our machines protecting you, we at least want the money back it took for repairs…"

Earl shook negatively, "You understood the risk when you aligned yourself with us!"

Goroh clenched his fists furiously and stomped his foot down, "Let's get to the chase!"

"The chase?" asked Chiya.

"I challenge you to a Red Canyon race! One checkpoint! One winner!"

Chiya smirked at him, "Oh?"

Earl grinned and nodded, "Actually, sounds good. But no combat allowed."

Goroh swung his hands in the air, "Fine, a good ol' fashion one-on-one race!"

Chiya and Earl seemed ultimately interested in this proposal, Guster had a blank look on his face as he watched the three. Chiya scratched her head and quirked her mouth.

"What are we wagering?"

Goroh laughed loudly and poked her forehead, "If I win, you _forfeit_ your machine!"

The conversation fell silent as everybody but Goroh had looks of great disinterest. Chiya lowered her eyelids and dipped her head down.

"Um-m, or the winner can just pay five-hundred credits…"

Goroh cracked his knuckles and nodded, "Fine! Loser forfeits five-hundred credits!"

Chiya narrowed her eyes at her rival, "Deal…"

The _Fire Stingray_ and _Purring Kitten_ later sat beside each other at a drawn starting line. They were now along a much stretched out cliff and were waiting for Guster's signal to start the race. The track was a simple series of curves and turns that stretched out for about a mile. The finish line was between two oddly shaped rock formations, which were visible from the starting line.

Earl had been ordered not to use his headset and was standing beside Guster at the finish line. He glanced over at him and quirked his mouth.

"So uh, how do they know when to begin."

Guster pulled out a barreled shotgun and grinned, "I shoot my shotgun up in the air!"

Earl stared at Guster for several moments with a disturbed look.

"You're American, aren't you…"

Goroh glanced over at Chiya and smirked, "Little girl doesn't stand a chance…"

Chiya glanced over at Goroh and smirked, "Fat Sammy doesn't stand a chance…"

Chiya was nervously tapping her foot down on the accelerator, preparing for the race to begin. She wasn't sure what was going to kick off the race, but she was assuming that Guster would swing a checkered flag into the air. Goroh crossed his arms at Chiya and chuckled.

"Stingray beats Kitten…"

Chiya beamed to herself and pointed her finger up, "I know I'll win, because kittens like to eat fish, and a stingray is a fish!"

Guster cocked his shotgun and aimed it up into the air, "Race on!"

He fired the loud shotgun, sending a blinding flash into the air. Chiya widened her eyes at the sight of the flash, Goroh had gotten the head start since he knew what the signal would be ahead of time. Chiya narrowed her eyes at the _Fire Stingray_ and growled.

"Oh sure, like I was supposed to know that we'd be starting the race over a bloody gun…"

Goroh chuckled loudly and looked back at his rival, "Foolish girl! You can't beat Samurai Goroh!"

Chiya kept her speed limiter on maximum as she pursued him; the two machines seemed to be going at an equal speed. The _Fire Stingray_ was a heavy machine just like hers. Chiya grunted as she looked around for any significant opportunities to pass him, but she soon found that there were no obstacles. This was a simple race.

"Damn!" she cussed aloud.

Earl and Guster simply watched together as the two racers sped down the series of turns. Earl had somewhat of a nervous look on his face, understanding that he was standing next to a wanted criminal, a criminal who had a shotgun. Earl whistled nervously and scratched the back of his head.

Earl chuckled and clapped his hands together, "Wouldn't it be funny if boulders started to roll down the cliffs..?"

Guster turned his head and lowered his eyebrows, "What?"

"Y- you know, like in the video game?"

Guster crossed his arms, "I don't play your fancy modern video games."

Earl narrowed his eyes and glanced away, "…well, I wouldn't call an _eleven year old game_ modern…"

Chiya was slowly gaining on Goroh, she came to the realization that he was on maximum speed as well; but he was likely beginning to overheat his engine by doing this and had to slow down. Chiya looked down at her engine status and found that it was only slowly entering the bright green area. Earl had modified her engine to be of very high class, meaning it would take a long time to overheat.

"God I love you E-" Chiya gasped as Goroh had momentarily boosted away from her, "Wait, we're boosting!?"

Chiya quickly responded by boosting as well, though she hadn't expected that the race would involve any boosting. She grasped her wheel tightly as she came towards Goroh quickly; ultimately the boosting got her even closer to his machine. It was becoming quite apparent to Chiya that her machine had finally surpassed Goroh's as far as stats.

Goroh looked back at Chiya and hummed nervously, "You almost fare as well as Falcon…"

He looked down at his engine status, but he was in the orange. Goroh clenched his fists angrily upon seeing this; he knew Chiya would pass him at some point.

Chiya finally turned down her speed slightly, wanting to keep her engine as cool as possible. This put the two racers at an equal speed again, but both were practically side-by-side at this point. Chiya glanced down the cliff and grunted upon seeing how high up they were. _He better not have a change of heart and side attack me off of the cliff…_ she thought nervously.

Goroh boosted once more while letting his engine cool, Chiya growled and boosted as well. There were obviously no restoration pads on the track, and finding one before the annual Grand Prix would be difficult. Restoration pads were electric strips that would restore a machine's energy, which were used to exert boost power.

Goroh grunted as Chiya's simple boost had put her ahead of him, in all actuality, boosting was a terrible idea on Goroh's part.

"Annoying!"

Guster was rubbing his hands excitedly, expecting that an F-Zero legend like Samurai Goroh could easily pull off a win against Chiya, a novice racer. Earl raised an eyebrow at Guster and smirked.

"So you're not going to kill us or anything? You just wanna' race?"

Guster nodded affirmatively, "The Pirate Legion of Goroh has been reconstructed as it once was; we plunder, but killing is a last resort."

"So-o, you're going to _plunder_ us?"

Guster laughed, "Plunder your wallet after Goroh wins this!"

Earl chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, alright then…"

Chiya and Goroh had swerved around a few large rocks that were in the way, this ultimately gave Goroh the lead again. Chiya puckered her lips challengingly as she turned her maximum speed back up. Goroh's engine was cool enough at this point to fire up his speed as well. Chiya was somewhat neck-and-neck with Goroh again as they did both went maximum speed.

Chiya was staring at the _Fire Stingray_ hostilely, but momentarily moved her eyes in front of the two. She widened her eyes and gasped at the sight of something coming up ahead-a rabbit.

"Look out rabbit!"

Chiya rammed into Goroh as a quick resort, thus pushing the two racers away from the rabbit. The rabbit swished its head back towards the two machines as they rounded another corner. Goroh grinded his teeth and slammed his fists down as Chiya bounced off of him and regained the lead.

"Oh, so that's how you wanna' play huh!?" he barked aloud.

Chiya looked back and smiled at the sight of the rabbit scampering away quickly, "Run away little friend!" she grunted loudly and bobbed her head as the rear of her machine was suddenly slammed into, "What the-"

She was slammed again by Goroh, who was now softly attacking her from the rear. Chiya gritted her teeth and growled as Goroh quickly began to rough her around.

"I thought we established that there would be no combat!"

Despite the sudden provocation by Goroh, Chiya was determined to win the race with the pre-established rules. By doing this, Goroh would have nothing to argue about if he lost. Chiya glanced to her right and gasped, they were already making the final few turns towards the finish like. She was close enough to the point where she could perfectly see Earl out in the distance along with Guster.

Guster snapped his fingers and growled, "I don't know what the Hell Goroh's doing!" he complained.

"Looks like he's trying to cheat…"

"Goroh doesn't cheat!"

Earl smirked, "Dude, he cheated in the final race last year by pulling out a gun…"

Despite the roughhousing Goroh was giving Chiya, she was managing to block his path everywhere they went. Goroh was becoming angry and gaining fatigue every moment that went by. Chiya bit on her lip as they made another large turn, one remained before it could be a simple drive towards the finish.

"Samurai Goroh loses to no one!"

Goroh pushed up the maximum speed and rammed into Chiya's rear, she gritted her teeth furiously as he did so. Finally, Goroh initiated boost power, thus pushing into the _Purring Kitten_ with immense force. Chiya gasped as she quickly began to lose traction, she turned her wheel constantly but was finding that she was stuck going forward. The two were supposed to make the turn towards the finish line, but instead he was pushing her right towards the edge; it was either stop or fall. Chiya swiftly moved her foot to the brakes, but then grunted. Instead of slowing down her machine, she decided to initialize boost power one more time.

Her machine boosted right out of Goroh's grasp, leaving him to bolt towards the edge. He gasped loudly and quickly did an emergency powerslide. The _Fire Stingray_ slid right onto the edge of the cliff, nearly falling hundreds of feet to the ground. Goroh instantly boosted one last time towards the finish, but it was too late, Chiya's last second tactic delivered her to the finish.

Goroh slammed his fists down, "No!"

Guster stomped on the ground constantly, "Damn you, Goroh! I knew I should have been the one to race!"

Chiya powered off her machine in front of Guster and leapt out while chuckling victoriously.

"I win!"

The _Fire Stingray_ stopped in front of Earl, Goroh forced the cockpit open with a furious look on his face. He had his fingers wrapped around his katana with the utmost desire to simply murder the two, but his code of honor would never allow him to do such a thing. Killing someone right after losing to them in a race would be humiliating in his eyes.

Goroh exhaled loudly and climbed out of his machine. He had a fake grin on his face as he marched towards Chiya. She slowly glared at him and took a step back towards Earl. Goroh stopped in front of her and chuckled, except this chuckle was real. Chiya clenched her fists in preparation for a fight, but Goroh surprised her by doing something else. He held his hand out towards her.

"That was some fancy piloting, kid."

Chiya still had an offended look on her face, she stared at his dirty hand and gritted her teeth. She sighed and closed her eyes with a disturbed look. She hesitantly grasped his hand and shook.

"Yeah…"

Goroh quickly retracted his hand and growled at her somewhat, "So, I suppose you expect me to hand over the five-hundred credits you won, eh?"

Chiya wrapped her hand around Earl and swished her other hand at him with a smile, "No reward is needed. We're heroes, I'll take the pride of winning over the money any day."

Goroh grunted at her, then momentarily smirked. Within a few seconds both Chiya and Earl were sent into a state of shock as Goroh began to loudly laugh. Guster remained still with a smirk on his face. Chiya and Earl were now wide-eyed as Goroh continued to laugh loudly, they exchanged glances and quickly looked back at Goroh. He unsheathed his katana and forced it into the ground with incredible strength.

"You two are alright…" Earl grinned at Goroh, but Chiya merely lowered her eyebrows, "To be honest, I wasn't going to hand over the money either way…" Earl and Chiya both responded by lowering their eyelids. "But you know, I would be ecstatic if you would accept an alternative reward…"

Earl raised a suspicious eyebrow, "What kind of alternative..?"

Goroh crossed his arms and smirked at the two, he patted Guster's back and chuckled, "Me and my entire crew would be greatly humbled if you would stop by tomorrow night for dinner."

Chiya grunted and glared at him, "Hell no!"

"Take it or leave it, your choice; I'm merely trying to compensate for the credits that I'm _not_ handing over."

Earl shook negatively as well, "This sounds like a trap…"

Guster smirked, "Hey, I legitimately like you two, though I didn't take too kindly to that bastard of a boss you two used to have!"

Chiya sighed and nodded, "…he wasn't too fond of you neither…"

Guster bowed to her, "I wouldn't let Goroh hurt you two on my watch."

Goroh laughed at Guster, "Please, I'd kick your- er-rr…" Goroh rubbed the back of his neck and smirked, "Well, either way, if I killed you, Chiya Flower, the fans would have my head. People like you, and I can see why…"

Chiya beamed at this. What Goroh said was true however; fans of F-Zero were very radical when it came to their favorite racer. Chiya had gathered a large fan base on her first year of racing, nearly winning the Grand Prix rewarded her with a much larger fan base this year. If Goroh were to kill Chiya and the public learned of this, he would be under heavy assault by the fans and possibly lose many of his own fans.

Chiya rubbed her chin and raised an eyebrow, "Question though; why would we want to come to your dirty camp when we have a nice place back home?"

Goroh growled at her decision to use the term _dirty_ to describe his camp, he momentarily smirked, "I don't blame you for asking, I mean, my men are pretty disgusting slobs." He snapped his fingers and pointed towards the sky, "But have you ever seen the stars out at Red Canyon late at night?"

Chiya scratched her chin, "Just a few times, but I was driving…"

"Bring all the protection and weapons you want, I implore you…" Goroh punched Guster's arm and began walking towards the _Fire Stingray_, "You know where to find our camp, if you decide to take up our offer." He climbed aboard the _Fire Stingray_, Guster grasped the back fin of his machine and held on tight, Goroh pointed at Chiya and smirked, "There will be food."

Chiya and Earl both watched as the two pirates left the area. Chiya and Earl were ultimately left completely confused by this seemingly random invitation. Both were almost certain that there was a catch to this apparent friendly _invitation_.

"Do we go?" asked Earl.

Chiya hummed while watching the _Fire Stingray _leave her sight. They had one day to determine whether they would go or not. The biggest question on Chiya's mind was the fact that they would be surrounded with criminals, this made her contemplate whether they would be considered a criminal for going to the camp.

Either way, the invitation was on the table and the two had a day to make up their minds…

"Alright, spare!" Jack Levin shouted with a grin.

Many hours had gone by, and Jody's team were now at the Mute City bowling alley. The entire team was playing against each other on divided teams. Jody was on a team with Dr. Stewart, John Tanaka, and Dr. Clash. Rick Wheeler, Jack Levin, and Mr. EAD were on the other team.

Jody was sitting motionlessly at the table as Dr. Stewart took the ball and proceeded on with his turn. Jody was staring aimlessly into her beverage, watching as the ice jiggled around in the dark liquid. Her eyes quivered greatly as an ice cube slowly slid off the top of another. She grunted and began to tremble somewhat as she instantly had dark memories cloud her head.

"…i- ice cold murderer…" she muttered faintly.

"What was that?" asked Tanaka.

Jody widened her eyes and looked up at him, she still had a petrified look on her face but momentarily closed her eyes and fake chuckled.

"Oh, nothing…"

Stewart sat back down at the table while flailing his hand around in pain, "Bent my finger on that last throw…"

Tanaka laughed, "You always injure yourself playing this game, Doctor! Remember the championship game where you hurt your hand and Lieutenant Seppuku needed to take your place-"

"Enough!" Jody shouted after slamming her fists down. Everyone on her team stared at her intensely with fearful looks, Jody grunted and widened her eyes. She cleared her throat and dipped her head down, "U-uh, I mean, enough talking, is it my turn yet..?"

Stewart nodded at her, "You're up."

Jody stood up and sighed with an embarrassed look. She marched past her companions and grabbed a red ball, she exhaled loudly as she approached the lane with a distracted look. She stopped to breathe and momentarily looked up at the pins. She narrowed her eyes at them and gave the center pin a very intense stare; as if she were calculating.

Jody put her fingers in the three holes and proceeded to throw the ball forth. Everybody watched as the ball rushed down the lane at an intense speed, much faster than anybody else could make the ball go. Jody remained still as the ball struck the center pin and knocked all of the other pins down.

Everybody cheered at Jody's easy strike, but she remained still with a distracted look on her face. She looked up and smirked at her strike, then left back for the table. She sat down again with a clearly fake smile.

Stewart grinned at her, "No matter how many years go by, you still run the show in this establishment, Jody."

Tanaka beamed at her and nodded, "Grand Prix champion, pro Bowler, future Federation commander; Jody is everything!"

Jody sighed and nodded, "Yeah, it's great being me…"

Later that night, Jody exited the bathroom that was just outside of her room. She had a lime green bathrobe around her as she slowly walked towards her door with a bland expression. She slowly walked along the hallway and was observing all of the photos that were on the walls. She immediately spotted a photo of her next to her new F-Zero machine; the _White Cat_. She faintly smiled at this with sad eyes and looked to her left, momentarily coming across a photo of Jody and Dr. Stewart unveiling the final floor to the Federation HQ. She stopped moving and dropped her arms down as she continued to look at all of the historical photos; the next one being a photo of her, Dr. Stewart, Lieutenant Seppuku, and Dr. Clash at the bowling alley holding the trophy. She lowered her eyebrows sadly and turned towards another; Jody, Stewart, and Seppuku were posing together at a crime scene together.

"Well all look so happy…" she muttered aloud.

She was staring at the gleeful smile she had in the photo, even Seppuku had a faint smile as she had her arms wrapped around both Stewart and Seppuku. The sight of such a happy woman was very recognizable to her; she looked just like someone she knew personally in modern day. Back then, she looked just like Chiya Flower.

Jody frowned and turned towards another photo, Seppuku appeared infuriated as Jody and Clash cheered on Team Germany after having won the Earth Soccer Cup; Seppuku was wearing a Team France T-shirt.

Another photo revealed Jody posing on the beach in a sharp blue bikini, "Wow, I was one hot mama…"

Finally, she came across a more personal photo, this was of Jody and Seppuku alone at Bart's café; Bart was behind them with his arms wrapped around both of them. Jody had a very bright look in the photo, as if she were laughing at the time. Bart was beaming, while Seppuku had a clear look of irritation with Bart having his arm around him.

Jody sighed and looked at the next photo, this was a more modern team photo from the year Seppuku had been fired. Jody, Stewart, Clash, Tanaka, and Jack Levin were all posing together in the photo-only Jody had a very serious and bland look on her face. Jody rubbed her forehead and grinded her teeth, momentarily looking back at the photo of Jody, Seppuku, and Bart.

Jody put her hand against the wall with quivering eyes as she stared into Bart's eyes, "What went wrong Bart..?" she moved her gaze down to her own happy face, she shook negatively, "What happened to me? Why can I not smile like that anymore?"

She slowly looked over at Seppuku, almost getting a fuzzy feeling inside at the sight of the dark hearted man.

"I- I did everything right! I fired him for unethical behavior, and I executed him for the many crimes he committed…" she continued to stare at Seppuku, then back at her, "I did nothing wrong, everything I did and do is the right choice; Seppuku being dead is only going to help the universe, maybe even save it…" she frowned and dipped her head down, "But, I don't get it…"

She rubbed her forehead and gritted her teeth, "I don't know why I feel guilty at the slightest. Not only was he a pest, but he always harassed me whenever he could, he clearly hated me right to the end…" she lowered her eyelids, "It's almost like I miss that old fool messing with me…" she stomped her foot down and growled, "-and God knows I don't have _feelings_ for him!"

She continued to stare at the photo with quivering eyes, but momentarily swished her hand at it and continued towards her door.

"Whatever, I'll stand with what I said to the end…" she slammed the door shut behind her and locked it again, momentarily climbing into bed.

"Killing Seppuku was for the best…"

To be continued…


	4. Lap 3

==Lap 3=

Chiya and Earl were sitting at the dining table the following morning, both still appeared very distracted after being cordially invited to Samurai Goroh's campsite for dinner. Neither of the two understood why Goroh would invite them, but one thing was clear to both of them. This invitation likely had a secret twist.

Earl rubbed his chin and shrugged, "I dunno', do we wear anything fancy?"

"Earl!"

"Well, I'm not saying that we're going, in all honesty it probably is wise to just stay here where we're safe."

Chiya put her hands together and quirked her mouth, "I don't know why part of me wants to go. I hate Goroh, but I kind of like Guster…"

"Guster's a trigger-happy lunatic."

Chiya puckered her lips and swished her hand at him, "Guster's a nice guy."

The two continued to sit patiently, both wondering how long it would be before a mutual conclusion was met. Both were interested in the idea of going somewhere exotic, and the idea of being surrounded by pirates was somewhat exciting to Chiya.

"He _did_ say that we could bring guns…" Earl pointed out.

Chiya smirked at him and nodded, "We do have guns, a lot of guns."

Seppuku had collected a massive amount of weapons from a gang war the three were caught in the middle of two years ago. Two gangs fought for dominance over the Lower City; one gang was the Bloody Chain, led by ex-racer Michael Chain. The other gang was Red Star, a Soviet themed gang led by Brock Blaskovitz, who now works for Black Shadow as a puppet.

The two entered a room near Seppuku's office and turned on the light, they were immediately faced with various handguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, and even rocket launchers.

Chiya slapped her cheek in awe, "Did you know that our arsenal was this big?"

Earl chuckled, "Yeah, but I completely forgot about this room until now."

Chiya rubbed her hand against the barrel of an assault rifle; she instantly recognized this as a Red Star weapon.

"Wow, time sure has flown…"

Earl nodded as he observed the bullets of the assault rifle, "Yeah, feels like it was just yesterday that I extracted these out of your body."

Chiya cringed and nodded, "That's right; I was shot several times that one night…"

Earl sighed and shook negatively, "I don't know, we probably shouldn't be touching these…" Chiya raised an eyebrow at him, "We're not vigilantes any more, we're two young adults simply wanting to move on in life…"

"Yeah, that's true…"

Despite Earl's statement, Chiya continued to observe the weapon, she frowned and sighed, "You know, I don't want to get mixed up in any more violence; but I kind of miss going on those crazy adventures with Seppuku…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and nodded, "_Crazy adventures _is almost right, I would label them more as _ridiculously dangerous adventures_."

Chiya shrugged and nodded, "I guess…"

Earl swished his hand at the guns and turned around, "You know what, let's just not go…"

Chiya quickly nodded, "Alright, it probably was a trap anyways…"

"We're so close to the Grand Prix, let's just try and take it easy…"

She nodded again, "Sounds good."

Earl turned off the lights and wrapped his arm around her as they walked away.

"Seppuku's gone, we shouldn't have to do these things anymore…"

Jody once again found herself at her desk, but this time things were different—she had a lot of incomplete paperwork on her desk. Her eyes were now fairly red and she was lacking lipstick. She constantly found herself dozing off in her chair as she attempted to her paperwork; but her exhaustion was finally beginning to overcome her as she had yet another night of nightmares and constant awakening.

Jody struggled to open her eyes as she laid her head back against her chair.

"Come on, Jody…" she muttered aloud.

She opened her eyes and rubbed them; she momentarily looked down at her paper and grunted. Everything seemed so confusing to her, there were intelligent words she wasn't recognizing and nothing she read was clicking. She shook negatively with quivering eyes, finally realizing that this exhaustion was not only hurting her state of mind, but it was now going to hurt her job.

"Authorization for pharmaceutical usage of cannabis for cortex surgical procedures..?"

She was staring at the term _cortex_ for several seconds, trying to figure out what this meant. She bit her lip and glanced over at her computer, as a last resort, she looked up the definition.

"What, is, a, cortex- oh good God!"

She closed the webpage after having come across fairly gory images of a human brain under surgery. Jody looked back at the paperwork and gritted her teeth, as if she couldn't remember where she stood on the issue of medical marijuana.

"Um—m…"

She grasped both ends of her head and glared intensely at the paper, moments later, her door was forced open by John Tanaka and Dr. Clash, they had panicked looks as they rushed towards her desk.

"Jody!"

"Jody!"

"Jody!"

"Jody, Jody!"

Jody growled very hostilely and threw her pen across the room, "What the Hell do you two want!?"

Both men got frightened looks on their faces, especially by Jody's red eyes. Tanaka brushed this off and flailed his hands in the air constantly.

"Jody! Someone drank all of the beer!"

Jody slammed her fists down and grunted, "Oh, come, on!"

Clash nodded, "This is true, Jody, the beer, it is all gone!"

"Good! You shouldn't be drinking during the day! What's wrong with you!?"

Tanaka nodded, "But Jody, that's not the issue at hand. Someone is stealing _all_ of the beer that _we_ all pitch in to buy!"

Jody sighed loudly and forced herself up, "Jesus Christ- show me..."

The three later found themselves going down many stairs, this was taking them under the Federation HQ. The Federation HQ was the tallest building in Mute City, but also the deepest; there were about ten underground floors. Floor -10 was a classified area of the base and contained the employee kitchen, along with other things that should be hidden from the public. Only Jody and her companions had the keycard to enter the room.

Jody came to a stop in front of a very primitive metal door. It was very cold down below the Federation HQ, and their breath could easily be seen. Tanaka got beside Jody while shivering.

"Can't we install a heating device down here?"

Jody shook negatively, "Why? No one is ever down here for longer than a few minutes," she closed her eyes and sighed, "…except for the Lieutenant's body…"

She slowly opened the door and turned on the lights, they were immediately faced with a brightly lit up kitchen. Jody narrowed her eyes as she looked around the room; it was well maintained and had a relaxing scent.

Jody grinned, "It's nice in here, I should read down here…"

"But Jody, it's so cold!" said Clash.

Jody shook negatively as she walked towards the refrigerator, "Eh, Bavaria was colder…"

She opened the fridge and quickly dropped her eyelids down angrily; everything was in place except for the twenty-pack case of beer. Of course, Federation personnel were only allowed to drink while off duty.

"See! Someone stole the beer!" Tanaka rubbed his hands together slowly with a devious expression, "…I bet it was Levin…"

"Calm down, Tanaka. I'll give you the credits to go out and buy some more, perhaps high command needed it for a special occasion or something."

Clash nodded, "Thank you."

Jody nodded at the two and swished her hand back at the door, "Now, please, leave me be."

The two respected her request and walked back towards the door. Jody remained still and slowly closed the fridge door. She leaned against it and quirked her mouth as she looked around the room. She closed her eyes and yawned, as she was still very exhausted. She knew that no matter how she felt, she would get a full night of sleep this time. She was far too tired to have sleeping issues.

Jody opened her eyes and slowly turned her head towards another door, she gritted her teeth as she looked into the door's window. She was gazing into the darkness of the room with a chill going down her spine.

She stood up and slowly began to approach the room; she had a slightly frightened look on her face as she locked her attention on the dark room. She grasped the doorknob and grunted loudly, contemplating whether it was a good idea to enter this room. Of course, this specific room currently had much importance to her. Despite her fears, she opened the door.

Jody gasped as a very cold breeze rushed past her, almost as strong as a breeze. Her eyes were now widened, as if she weren't exhausted at all. She hesitantly took a few steps into the dark room while trembling. She walked into the center of the room and grasped a metal chain hanging from the ceiling. She tugged down on the chain, thus turning on a light bulb.

A shock went through Jody's body as she stared at the lone black coffin that was lying on the floor. The metal of the coffin was very specular, and the edges were perfectly rounded.

Jody approached the coffin with quivering eyes and quirked her mouth, this was indeed the current resting place of Lieutenant Seppuku. Jody reached out for the coffin, but quickly grunted and retracted her fingers.

"I- I shouldn't…" she swatted her hand down and shook negatively, "It would be rude to disturb his resting place…"

She continued to stare at the coffin with an intensely disturbed look, her desire to see her former friendly rival was beginning to get to her, but whether she liked it or not; he was dead. She backed away from the coffin and quirked her mouth somewhat angrily.

"If you would have just stuck to the rules, I wouldn't have had to kill you…" she said this, but ironically she didn't believe what she was saying.

No matter what she could tell herself, she knew that the real reason that she had Seppuku killed was to keep Black Shadow from capturing him. If it weren't for Black Shadow, Seppuku very well may be still living comfortably with Chiya and Earl.

Jody sighed and shook negatively at the coffin.

Chiya was bouncing up and down excitedly as Earl was cutting a very thin sheet of metal with an electric blade. He had a sheet of paper over the metal with an outline of a cat and the words _Purring Kitten_ underneath. He was tracing the lines with the razor very slowly.

"Hurry up!"

Earl smirked, "If I do that, it'll be a shredded up cat."

Chiya widened her eyes, "Please, take your time!"

Chiya waited patiently for Earl to finish cutting the metal. About two minutes later he completed the tracing and removed the paper. He brushed the now cutout paper cat aside and pushed the metal parts aside as well. He grinned and held up a thin cutout cat head with text.

"Awesome!" Chiya said excitedly.

"Now we go find some pink paint, and we can add this decal to your machine just in time for the Grand Prix."

"Can we paint on a Mysterian flag?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and shrugged, "Sure, but I wouldn't recommend doing that, even though you like your planet, the rest of the universe hates it."

Chiya nodded and beamed at the cutout decal, "Man, everybody is going to be so jealous of this totally radical decal."

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "Totally radical?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, alright."

Chiya snapped her fingers and smiled, "Let's go to Bart's Café."

Earl grinned and nodded, "Sounds like a plan."

He clicked open the garage door as they walked towards the _Purring Kitten_, but both grunted as something was behind the door. Chiya widened her eyes and gasped.

"Wh- what the Hell-"

Samurai Goroh charged inside of the garage while flailing his arms wildly, "I hope you haven't forgotten about your invitation tonight!"

Chiya glared at him with a twitching eye, "What are you doing here..?"

Goroh smirked and crossed his arms, "I'm here to remind you two about the dinner you won."

Earl chuckled and shook his hand negatively, "No, no, we've decided that we'll just take the pride of the victory and leave it like that. It was a good race, Goroh."

Chiya nodded affirmatively to Earl's reasoning, but Goroh merely growled at this.

"You _will_ be coming for dinner tonight, right!?"

Chiya widened her eyes, Earl scratched his chin, "I thought I was pretty clear about that just now…"

Goroh stomped his foot down, "I'm not giving you five-hundred credits! So just-"

Chiya growled loudly and flailed her hands in the air, "Dude! We're not coming, we don't want anything from you; I'll just take the bloody win with a smile!"

Goroh stomped his foot down again and chuckled, "What if I send you off with a little present if you come?"

Earl had a look of disinterest, however, Chiya raised an eyebrow, "Present..?"

"I have a seventy-five percent off discount card for the Auto City Center. If you come for dinner I'll hand over the card!"

"What makes you think that we need a vehicle?"

Goroh pointed at the _Purring Kitten_, "You have a one seated machine, you need a vehicle that can hold extra passengers preferably one with a rear cargo bay, right?"

Chiya and Earl exchanged confused glances, "Cargo bay, you mean a trunk?" asked Earl.

Chiya grabbed Earl's hand and gave Goroh and intense stare, "You really want us to come, don't you?"

Goroh returned a hostile gaze and hummed deeply, Chiya raised an eyebrow at him. Goroh nodded and crossed his arms.

"The truth is, I have a proposition for you. All I want is for you to hear me out over tea…"

Chiya and Earl both looked at each other nervously, Goroh cracked his knuckles, "Come or don't come, but either way, I expect that you'll come…"

Chiya waited a few moments, but momentarily sighed and nodded, "Bloody Hell, fine! We'll go to your bloody camp later in the evening." Goroh smirked at her, she pointed a straight finger at him, "J- just don't expect us to come unarmed!"

Goroh chuckled and spun around, "Good, me and Guster will be waiting…"

He walked away from the two and approached the _Fire Stingray_. Both Chiya and Earl were startled that Goroh so easily made his way into their base; this made it clear that they still had to stay vigilant even with Seppuku gone.

Several hours went by and the two were now back in the armory, only this time they were equipping themselves with weapons. Chiya had the same assault rifle she used during the Battle of Green Plant in her hands. This assault rifle had a red laser pointer to help with her accuracy. Earl held up a rocket launcher and chuckled jokingly at Chiya.

"I don't think we'll need to cause _that_ much destruction if things go bad…"

Earl nodded and set the launcher down, "This seems too strange, I mean, two years ago we were fighting these pirates."

"I know, and honestly I'm not very concerned about this proposition, I just want to get this guy out of our hair."

"Then, shouldn't we ignore the invite?"

Chiya shook negatively, "You saw how persistent he was, and we've both seen how he gets when he's angry. I bet he'd come back here to kill us if we ignored the invite."

Earl sighed and nodded, "Okay, no matter what we do, this is the last thing we ever do involving criminals."

"Right."

The two were now armed up and prepared to get on with the dinner Goroh was preparing for them. Chiya and Earl walked into the hallway and continued towards the lobby door. Chiya faintly smiled and shrugged.

"Well, at least this gets me out of cooking tonight…"

Earl swished his head towards her, "Chi', you don't have to make dinner if you don't want to; we can just go back to eating whenever-"

"No! I like having family dinner!"

The two entered the lobby and made a quick turn for the door to the garage; Earl scratched his head and nodded.

"Alright, I personally love your food; and Seppuku did too."

"He never got to try out my actual cooking though…"

"It's alright…"

Jody Summer stood still in the center of her office looking at a wide screen. Her eyelids were quivering as she fought the urge to close her eyes. The screen began to flash a logo constantly as a man momentarily appeared on screen, the commander of the Federation.

"Sir!" Jody greeted loudly.

The Commander crossed his arms and nodded at her, "Hello, Ms. Summer; how are you?"

Jody dipped her head down, "I've, had better days, sir…"

He hummed and nodded at her, "Glad to hear that." Jody lowered her eyebrows in offense at his near-robotic response, "Do you have your weekly report on the financial stability of Mute City?"

Jody nodded and grabbed a paper off her desk, "Yes sir, from what data I've collected-" she grunted and widened her eyes as a shock went down her body. She forgot to complete the paperwork. Jody began to tremble and looked up at him, "U-uh…"

"Well? Do you have it or not?"

Jody frowned and dipped her forehead down, "My, weekly report is incomplete, at the moment…"

"Why?"

Jody took off her glove and began to bite on her finger, "Um, well, I've been fighting a minor case of depression, and-"

"So take some medicine."

Jody lowered her eyebrows, "With all due respect, sir, I am heavily opposed to using any kind of drug; I believe natural healing is-"

"Yeah, yeah, just have the report digitally sent up to me later. I must say, Ms. Summer, I'm a tad bit disappointed in you right now…"

Jody gasped and quickly found her eyes beginning to water, "Y- yes, sir, I'm sorry…"

The Commander prepared to switch off the screen, but he momentarily looked at her and narrowed his eyes, "Get some early rest tonight, you look terrible."

He concluded the call, thus leaving Jody crushed. She walked over to her office chair with a quivering pout. Failure was something Jody didn't believe in, and her emotional distress had caused her to be late on her report. She slammed her fists down on her desk and growled at the top of her lungs.

Chiya and Earl were later driving along a Red Canyon cliff, Chiya had a puzzled look on her face as they drove. She glanced over at Earl and hummed as his hair blew with the wind. _I wonder if Goroh will actually help up get Earl a new vehicle…_ She blew her bangs up and sighed. _Who am I kidding? Goroh's probably just trying to capture us…_ Chiya turned on her headset and lowered her eyebrows.

"I suddenly think we're making a mistake…"

"I don't know, honestly, I think we might be falling into a trap; but hey, we did bring guns after all…"

Chiya bit on her lip and looked off the cliff towards Mute City, "Yeah, but I'm just wondering why he would be so insistent on us coming. I doubt it's for any good reason, but then again, what could he possibly want with us?"

Earl smirked and shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."

The _Purring Kitten_ turned into a narrow valley and quickly drove through it, Earl looked down at the machine and smirked at the well reconstructed body. Chiya had greatly damaged her machine the previous year after being side attacked by her clone, Dark Rose, and once by Seppuku. After nearly two months of work, the two had eventually restored the machine to its previous state.

Chiya turned on a headlight so they could see inside of the very dark valley, she faintly smiled at the gorgeous night they were experiencing in Red Canyon. If Goroh spoke the truth and merely wanted to have dinner with the two under the stars and have them listen to his proposition, she would be ultimately happy with her day.

After coming out of the valley, the two entered a large fairly large gorge where Chiya's ship rested. The two quickly came to a stop just short of the medium sized ship. Chiya opened her cockpit and set her headset down, Earl raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why are we stopping?"

Chiya unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the machine without turning it off, "Thought we could just stop and relax for a few moments."

Earl raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical of these intentions. Chiya whistled nervously as she opened the door to the ship and entered, Earl briefly followed her inside as well.

Earl looked around the living room of the ship and immediately found Chiya digging around the fridge in the kitchen.

"What are you doing, Chiya?"

She spun around and puckered her lips, "Um, just thought I'd get something to eat before we have dinner at Goroh's…"

Earl smirked, "A-ah, I see…"

"What?"

"You're afraid to eat anything there."

Chiya glared, "That's not true! I- I just, want to eat in case I don't like anything-" she dipped her head down and smirked, "Okay, but come on. Do you really think a group of bloody pirates are going to put together a finely made cuisine?"

"Dunno', won't know until we get there."

Chiya threw a soda through the air towards him, Earl caught it and spun it around in his hand, "But maybe you're on to something…"

Chiya leapt onto the couch and smiled as she turned on the television, "Maybe we can watch something before we go…"

She turned on a cartoon and raised an eyebrow.

A small monkey scratched its rear and rolled his eyes, "Dammit, Donkey Kong! You can't keep eating so many golden bananas, you'll get some kind of poisoning!"

Donkey Kong groaned and looked away, "Look, Diddy, I can stop eating golden bananas whenever I want. I found them, so I can eat them!"

Chiya quirked her mouth and lowered her eyebrows, "Why does TV ruin my childhood..?"

The two minutes later approached a massive campsite in their machine. The campsite had nearly fifty tents set up with several campfires. Chiya swallowed nervously as several of the pirates turned to look at the two, Earl looked inside of the cockpit and lowered his eyebrows at Chiya. She had a fairly nervous look on her face as she contemplated what kind of trouble she would be getting the two into. She scanned the area for a place to park, but decided that it would be best to park next to the _Fire Stingray_ and _Green Panther_. These two machines were sitting next to a massive tent.

She drove through the campsite and widened her eyes as all of the attention was quickly drawn onto her, as if she were trespassing. She parked next to the two machines and quickly opened her cockpit with her assault rifle drawn. Earl pulled out an assault rifle as well and put his hand on a few bundled grenades he had strapped to his pants. The two exchanged glances and walked around towards the large tent's entrance.

Chiya opened the tent, but widened her eyes upon finding no one here. She could see several of Goroh's possessions, but neither Goroh nor Guster were anywhere in plain sight. The two slowly entered the tent and walked towards the dining table that was set up. Earl grunted and pointed at an object on the table.

"Look."

Chiya squinted and found that there was a map on the table, "Hm-m…"

Before she could approach it, the two were grabbed by the shoulders. Chiya quickly turned her head and panicked, it was Goroh.

"Hello…"

Chiya widened her eyes and gritted her teeth, "Okay, we're here…"

Earl dipped his head down, "So, are we not having dinner in here then?"

Goroh walked back to the entrance and inched his finger at them, ordering them to follow him, "Later, I want to show you around the camp."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "Yeah, well, it's actually close to bedtime, believe it or not, so I would like to try and make this visit short…"

Goroh forced himself out of the tent, Chiya and Earl followed him as they all walked towards a campfire. Chiya raised an eyebrow in confusion as she looked around at the many campfires, wondering why this was such a popular thing to do amongst the pirate gang. Goroh sat down next to Guster and a few other pirates, who were all sitting around the campfire talking. Chiya and Earl hesitantly approached the campfire together.

Guster turned his head and smirked at the two, "You guys came…"

Chiya smiled and waved at Guster, "Hi-i!"

Goroh crossed his arms, "You may be wondering why we have so many campfires…"

Earl quirked his mouth, "Yeah, what's up with that?"

"Well, you see, each campfire carries different conversations; if you don't like what we're talking about here, you go and find a campfire you do find interesting."

Earl grinned, "That's a neat idea, actually."

Chiya nodded, "That's a good way to make friends."

"I know, as you can see, sociability is a prominent part of my crew…"

Guster chuckled, "The best part is that people don't hold grudges here for long. I was Goroh's enemy for a while, and just like that, everybody accepts me here again."

Chiya smiled and clapped, "That's great!"

Goroh began to walk away from the campfire, Guster got up and followed him. Chiya and Earl looked at each other and momentarily began to follow Guster.

Goroh opened up a very round tent and pointed inside, "Behold! The gambling tent!"

Earl beamed and pushed everybody aside, "Wait, you mean-" he gasped and widened his eyes, not necessarily at the games being shown, rather, the massive amount of players available to play. "Oh my God…"

"Win or lose, these mates are always willing to play a hand…"

Earl stepped in front of Goroh and smirked approvingly at the well set up gambling parlor, there were even drinks being poured for pirates; but Earl was no longer an alcoholic.

Goroh pulled him away and walked back out of the tent. Chiya raised an eyebrow at Goroh and Guster as they continued to give the two a tour. She was immediately becoming skeptical, believing that this was relevant to his proposition in some way. Goroh stopped in front of the large tent and pointed at a small shed beside the _Fire Stingray_.

"Here, we have all the tools a mechanic could ask for!"

Earl gasped again and ran up to an electric drill, "Oh my God! This is worth a fortune!" he grabbed it off of the wall and began to observe it with an excited look, "Every good mechanic wants to get their hands on this drill…"

"Yeah, so keep your paws off of it! It's too expensive to replace!"

Earl nodded and set the drill back up on the wall, Chiya tapped her foot impatiently as Earl walked back to the three.

"When are we having dinner?"

Goroh stomped his foot down, "In a minute!" he snapped back at her.

Chiya glared at him, "Okay!"

He walked the three over to another tent, but this one caught Chiya's eye somewhat. Goroh chuckled and flailed his arm forth. The room was completely littered with cloth, leather, and dye.

"This, is the design room!"

Chiya raised an eyebrow, "Design room?"

"This is where our pirate clothing is made, unfortunately, we lack someone with an artistic touch to make really good things…"

Chiya narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "I see…"

He wrapped his arm around Chiya and brought her back outside, he swiped his hand towards the stars and chuckled, "Have you ever seen such a beautiful sight?"

Chiya sighed, "No, I haven't."

"Imagine, we get to live here; we live in this paradise every day! Only, we do leave on my cruiser occasionally to plunder in space."

Chiya growled, "Yeah…"

The four finally left for the large tent again, now preparing for the dinner they were invited to have with Goroh and Guster. Chiya and Earl exchanged glances again, unsure of what to make of the tour.

Chiya and Earl later found themselves on their knees with their footwear off. They sat together at the table in Goroh's tent, Guster was sitting on another end of the table. Guster was sitting across from the center drinking tea. Meanwhile, a pirate servant was cooking food for the four.

Chiya scratched her neck and looked away from the three, deep inside she wanted to leave as soon as possible. She now regretted coming to the camp, not because of the intimidation Goroh imposed on her, rather, because she felt that the night would be uneventful and ultimately boring. She felt that the night could have been put to better use at the base.

Chiya sighed and slowly looked at Guster with a fake smile, "So, Guster, are you excited for the Grand Prix?"

Guster slammed his fist down and growled, "Last year's prize money shoulda' been all mine! But Jody Summer stole it from me!"

"…the Bat…" Earl said with a sly grin.

"I was rank two after that fourth race! I coulda' came in fourth and probably still have won! But Jody forced me into a landmine and retired my machine!"

Goroh slammed his fist down, "He retired his machine!"

Earl gasped sarcastically, "Not his machine!"

Goroh crossed his arms, "-and that dark hearted witch destroyed _my_ machine…"

Chiya frowned, "Dark Rose was alright, she was just confused and needed help…"

Guster began to laugh loudly, "Appearance-wise, I coulda' _helped_ her plenty!"

Chiya widened her eyes at this comment, Goroh smirked, "Yeah, I think everyone in this camp would've rode her, had they been given the chance…"

Earl looked at Chiya, who was now twitching. Technically, the two were making sexual remarks towards Chiya, as Rose was merely a clone with different colors.

"C- can we talk about something else?"

Guster smirked, "To answer your question, I'm going to win this year!"

Goroh smirked and pointed at Chiya, "I think Chiya has it this year…"

Chiya lifted her hostile look and slightly smiled at Goroh, "You really think so?"

"Of course, you're one of the best on the circuit right now…"

Chiya continued to beam at him, but momentarily lowered her eyebrows in suspicion. _Is he being serious, or is he just sucking up to me..?_ The four were momentarily presented plates of meat. Chiya looked down at her plate and lowered her eyebrows, there was a dark brown liquid underneath the plate; almost like blood.

"W- what is this?"

Goroh ripped the flesh off of his meat, Guster chewed on his food and looked over at Chiya.

"Rat!"

Chiya widened her eyes, "R- rat? As in the mouse?"

"A rat isn't a mouse."

Chiya whimpered and dipped her head down, "I think I'm allergic to rats…" she turned her head towards Earl and gasped as he was eating the meat quickly, "Earl!"

Earl shrugged at her, "Hey, it's not that bad…"

Chiya turned her head towards the meat again and stuck her tongue out in disgust. Goroh growled at her, "You know, it's rude to insult a host's meal…"

Chiya glared at him, "You know, it's rude to assault innocent ships and stab innocent girls boyfriends!"

Earl swallowed his food and widened his eyes, Goroh crossed his arms and smirked, "Anyways…" he snapped his fingers and pointed at the two, "On with business…"

Earl nodded, "What kind of proposal are we talking about?"

"I offered a similar deal to Chiya last year, but she declined; but the tables are turned this time and I have a feeling that I'll get a positive response." Chiya narrowed her eyes at him, now understanding what he was going to propose, "This time, you are unemployed and likely running out of cash!"

Earl shrugged, "Comfortably lower class citizens…"

"Either you win the Grand Prix, or face impoverishment!"

Chiya shook negatively, "We can get jobs if it comes to that point. You don't think someone would hire an F-Zero racer and her manager?"

Goroh chuckled, "You would do fine, but you have now seen how I run things around here, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we've impressed you with our camp?"

"You impressed Earl…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows at Chiya in somewhat offense, Goroh nodded, "What I am proposing, is that you two join us. Imagine, You, me, and Guster, together there is no way we could lose the Grand Prix!"

"Not interested."

"You will make many friends here, have great pay, be protected from the Federation-"

"Not interested."

"You two would get your own tent to share, you can customize it-"

"Oh my God, I said we're not interested."

Goroh growled and glanced over at Earl, "Does she speak the truth?"

Earl smirked and shrugged, "No offense, but you run a criminal group; we are not criminals. Besides, we just want to start a new life together, a simpler life."

Guster quirked his mouth, "The gambling tent and tools don't persuade you?"

Earl chuckled, "They are nice, I'll admit, but we don't want to work for any groups really. We could've joined the Federation last night and receive major benefits, but we declined."

Goroh sighed, "So what you are telling me, is that there is no way to convince you."

"No," both Chiya and Earl answered.

Goroh growled softly and shook negatively, he pulled out the promised coupon and crumpled it up, momentarily throwing it at Chiya's head.

"Take the damn prize coupon and leave…"

Earl grunted, "Wait, can I just finish my food?"

Goroh slammed his fists down and growled loudly, "No rat for you!"

"Come on, I'm hungry!"

Guster stood up and flailed his hands around, "Now hold on a minute, I think we should at least consider F-Zero a bit more…"

Goroh looked up at Guster, "What are you saying, buddy..?"

Chiya had a look of intrigue on her face, Earl continued to eat his meat.

"I'm saying, they don't have to join our pirate crew, but we should form an F-Zero alliance. Say, split the prize money up in the end…"

Chiya hummed in consideration and rubbed her chin, "Alliance?"

Goroh slammed his fists down, "Samurai Goroh! Does not align himself with-"

"We're all good racers, if we work together there's no telling what we could pull off…"

Goroh lowered his eyebrows and hummed, "We can win without Chiya…"

Chiya smirked, "Sure."

"I'd say, winner gets fifty percent of the prize money, the other twenty-five percent is given to the other two in the alliance!"

Chiya pointed her finger up, "So I would get five-hundred million for winning?"

"Two-fifty million if one of us win."

Chiya slowly hummed and quirked her mouth, Goroh growled but nodded.

"Fine, I can accept this, if she accepts it."

"What'd'ya say, Chiya, help us?" asked Guster.

Chiya and Earl looked at each other, she lowered her eyebrows and shrugged, "I guess at the very least I can think about it and get back to you on that…"

Goroh slowly nodded and pointed at the door, "Well, either way, get out of here…"

"Goroh…" Guster growled.

Goroh sighed and nodded, "Sorry, I mean; please, get out of here."

Chiya later found most of her body submerged in hot water as she lay motionlessly in the bathtub. She had her eyes closed with bubbles completely flooding the tub, only her head was popping out of the bubbles. Mauser was sitting on the edge of the tub getting pet by her. She quirked her mouth and licked her lips as she thought about Guster's proposal. _Helping criminals win the Grand Prix is still a criminal thing to do, whether I like it or not…_ she hummed and exhaled loudly. _On the other hand, I could just take the billion credits and run to Aeropolis with Earl…_

Mauser turned his head away from his master and looked at the door, Earl was knocking. Chiya slowly opened her eyes and quirked her mouth.

"Yes?"

"Were you planning on making dinner, or am I free to go to bed?"

Chiya smiled and dipped her chin under the water, "I'm just going to relax in the tub a bit longer, have a good night, sir."

"Yep, sweet dreams."

Chiya waited a few moments before she closed her eyes again, she resumed petting Mauser and yawned.

"See, Mauser? That's how I know that Earl isn't some pervert. If he was, he would have wanted to enter, but he didn't." She smiled and shrugged her shoulders out of the water, "He's very classy…"

Mauser momentarily leapt off of the tub and walked towards the door, Chiya turned her head and lowered her eyebrows at him in offense.

"What the Hell, I pet you for five minutes and you just want to leave?"

Mauser left through the cat door, leaving Chiya alone in the tub. She rubbed her chin and quirked her mouth as she momentarily hummed. _Is it sexual if Earl were to join me..?_ she contemplated about this for several moments, wondering if it were possible for two lovers to enjoy a bath together without turning it into a sexual ordeal. _Maybe in swimsuits or something, naked, I can't imagine being normal…_

She poked the water a few times and quirked her mouth. _How would you enter or leave the tub without seeing each other naked? One of us would probably peek if we were told to close our eyes…_ Chiya simply dismissed the thought, ultimately concluding that this could only be sexual.

"Ah well…"

She closed her eyes and smiled as she daydreamed about Big Blue. This was a planet she had always wanted to see, and now she would be racing around it in her favorite machine for her favorite sporting event. Chiya concluded the thought by humming the classic tune of Big Blue aloud.

Jody was walking down a destroyed street in the Lower City. Red Star and the Bloody Chain had just engaged in this location and several _Wild Boar_ looking machines and hover bikes were now burning on the streets. Craters from rockets had easily destroyed the simple infrastructure.

She continued to walk past the burning remains of gang vehicles with a look of awe, everything was now silent. Much like a battlefield, the fighting was seemingly over and all guns fell silent. Jody stomped her foot down and gasped at the sight of frozen civilians and gang members.

"What the…"

The simple beings were frozen, one was frozen with his head turned towards one of the burning vehicles. She walked past the frozen figure and grunted as she gazed upon all of the other frozen figures. This wasn't making sense to her at the slightest.

"What the Hell is this..?" she asked in frustration.

"A better time…"

Jody widened her eyes and turned around, there Lieutenant Seppuku quickly approached her with his old long rifle drawn. She glared at him and stepped back.

"Seppuku?"

Seppuku stopped in front of her and chuckled, "Remember? Crime infested the Lower City like a plague with the gangs around. It was glorious, I could score kills almost on a daily basis at night; and I would never suffer the consequences…"

"You monster…"

Seppuku laughed loudly, "Monster? Hardly, all you had to do from the start was spend a bunch of money clearing the streets. But no, you needed to direct all of your attention on the Upper City, Federation planets, well, basically anything but the Lower City…"

Jody swatted her hands down, "That wasn't it at all! Those gangs were all trained as guerrilla fighters, were well armed, and had vehicles that could easily destroy any cruiser or armored vehicle we threw at them!" she grinded her teeth and flailed her hands around at the many buildings that surrounded her, "These gangsters hid everywhere! We would've had to destroy every single building in the Lower City just to flush them out!"

Seppuku crossed his arms and smirked, "Oh, for sure…"

"We would have!"

Seppuku pushed her aside and continued down the street, Jody grunted and glared at him.

"Now, hold on one damn minute!"

She grasped his shoulder and spun him around, but she widened her eyes and gasped upon seeing his face. His white eyes were no longer visible, and he had the same grin on his face as he did when he was executed.

"W- what!?"

Jody gasped and forced her head up from her pillow, she softly hyperventilated for a few more moments. She closed her eyes immediately again and growled loudly.

"I- I just want to sleep! Is that too much to ask for!?"

She reached over for her glass of water, but she found that it was empty. She had already awoken too many times before.

"Oh, for the love of-"

She slowly crept out of bed and walked towards her door with the empty cup. She exited her room and walked down the hallway with pictures, half way through she gasped and widened her eyes upon seeing something in her office.

"N- no-o…"

There was light shining into her office from the window. Whether she liked it or not, it was almost morning. Jody glared and began to tremble with the glass in her hand, she grinded her teeth furiously and began to stomp her foot down constantly.

"No, no, no! I'm not rested enough to work yet!"

She speed marched over to the private restroom in her office and filled the cup with water. She quickly chugged the water down her throat quickly and filled it up again with a furious expression. Her exhaustion was making her very thirsty. She watched as the water filled the cup slowly.

"This is all that damn Lieutenant's fault…" she took a large sip from the water and began to fill it up more, "If he would have just followed the rules to the letter, I wouldn't have fired him, he would've stayed here, thus, I wouldn't have had to kill him!"

She spun around and marched out of the bathroom back towards her bedroom, "He's going to single handedly drag my job down with him because of his damn stupidity!"

She slammed her door behind her and got back onto her bed, she put the glass down next to her phone and growled. Before getting back into bed, she stared at the phone intensely. She momentarily frowned at it and sighed, deciding that she could only do one thing…

"Galactic Federation Headquarters, Dr. Robert Stewart speaking."

Jody sighed heavily and closed her eyes in shame at what she was about to request, "Doctor, I know you're going to be mad at me for asking you of this, and believe me, I don't want to ask you this; you're free to decline my plea if you wish, but-"

"You want me to fill in for you today?"

Jody widened her eyes in surprise, but momentarily dipped her head down and sighed, "I haven't been able to sleep in days, Stewart, I think something is medically wrong…"

"I'll do your shift tomorrow, Jody, all you have is paperwork, right?"

"Yes…"

"But…" Jody raised a tired eyebrow and bit her lip, "Only if you let me come into your room during the afternoon and let me give you some therapy."

Jody growled, "Thank you, but I don't need therapy, I need rest!"

"-and you will not rest properly until you have a clear head."

"I do have a clear head!" she snapped back.

"I saw you staring at the Café photo the other night, Jody…"

Jody brought her feet together and dipped her head down with a frown, she sighed and nodded, "Fine, and thank you, Stewart."

"Try and rest with happy thoughts…"

Stewart hung up on her, but Jody was left with a shocked look on her face as she thought about his final recommendation. Her eyes quivered as she laid back down in bed, she quirked her mouth and tightly closed her eyes.

"Happy thoughts..?" she grunted and rubbed her forehead.

"But, I don't know what makes me happy…"

To be continued…


	5. Lap 4

==Lap 4=

_It will be a nice day, the church bells will be ringing, and song of love will be playing as I walk down the center in my bright white wedding dress…_ Chiya was walking in an elegant and sparkling white wedding dress, he shoulders, back, and cleavage were exposed, a sapphire jewel hung from her chest, and a white cloth draped over her face; covering the immense smile that she had. _Earl will be waiting for me in an elegant suit, waiting for me, his soon-to-be wife to approach him…_

Chiya slowly stepped up the fleet of stairs, Earl smiled at her and brought his hands together. Chiya had watery eyes as she stepped up in front of him and instantly grabbed his hands. Earl had a shy and nervous look as Chiya gazed into his eyes. _My glimmering blue eyes will bring Earl's attention over to me, and he will feel just as excited to wed as I…_ Chiya crossed fingers with him and got closer to him. A priest had approached them and cleared his throat, Fiona and Abigail Flower were sitting on the left side of the congregation. But there were many more of Earl's family on the right. _The priest will talk, talk, and talk. But eventually, he will ask the question…_

"Do you, Earl Bendek, promise to care for Chiya, love her, respect her, treat her as your better half?"

Earl tightened his grasp on Chiya's hands and smiled, "I do."

"Do you, Chiya-"

"I do."

_The moment will be great, a two year friendship, and a one year relationship, finally set to enter the ultimate stage__-__marriage…_

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife," he beamed and nodded at the two, "You may kiss the bride…"

Chiya's eyes quivered in happiness as Earl lifted up her facecloth and grabbed her cheeks. Their lips pressed together, and then…

"Gah!" Chiya panicked.

Mauser had leapt up onto the bed, but this time he had miscalculated the jump and ended up swiping his claw across Chiya's cheek. Chiya sat up and moved her blanket down as she now rubbed her cheek.

"Ou-uch, what the bloody Hell, Mauser!"

Mauser now stood on all four paws and was staring at her, Chiya growled loudly and rubbed her cheek. She momentarily rested herself again and closed her eyes. _Dammit, now I won't be able to finish that dream…_

She tightly closed her eyes and quirked her mouth as she attempted to reenter the joyous dream. _Me and Earl then proceeded to kiss each other, thus making us husband and wife, yay..!_ Chiya opened her eyes again and sighed loudly.

"Dammit, Mauser…"

The following afternoon, Chiya found herself alone at Bart's Café. She was unsure of where Earl had went, but assumed that he was taking a walk around the Lower City. For once, Chiya had no intentions of doing things with Earl yet, however, her mind was still revolved around him. Unfortunately for Bart, Chiya had come to the café with the topic of Earl.

Bart walked in from the backroom and stood behind the counter with a grin, "Ah, Ms. Flower, what brings you here?"

Chiya smiled and waved, "Hi, Bart."

"No Earl this time?" She shook negatively, Bart grinned at her, "Remember when you two were just friends?"

Chiya closed her eyes and nodded happily, "Yeah, I remember…"

"Quite frankly, I'm not surprised that you were the one girl that could put Earl on the right path. His crazed girlfriend collecting hobby was getting very cruel and odd, but you set him straight."

Chiya smiled, "I'm glad to be Earl's girlfriend, without him, I don't know who I would possibly be interested in…"

Bart smirked, "What about your Captain Falcon crush?"

"Kinda' went away. I think his muscles are nice, but now that I actually work beside him during races, the excitement of Captain Falcon kinda' disappeared," she puckered her lips and got a dreamy look on her face, "I would much rather be taken around the world by Earl than Captain Falcon right now…"

Bart widened his eyes, "Wait, you wanted Captain Falcon to- th- this is a family establishment!"

"No, I never wanted to mess around with Falcon, but I definitely-"

"Please, stop, stop talking dirty."

Chiya widened her eyes and nodded, "Gotcha'."

Bart turned around and poured her a cup of hot tea, he set it down in front of her and crossed his arms, "So, how have you been without Lieutenant Seppuku around?" he chuckled and rolled his eyes, "You know, you live alone with Earl now; you basically are a married couple right now…"

Chiya's smile disappeared at his last comment, she dipped her head down and lowered her eyebrows, "Um, that's actually why I came here…"

Bart widened his eyes and grunted, "Uh oh…"

"Bart…" she looked up at him with sad eyes and put her hands down on the counter, "How do I get Earl to propose to me?"

Bart face palmed and chuckled softly, "Oh boy…"

"Oh boy?"

"I understand, it's a common problem couples face. Sometimes it's best to date for a couple of years before marrying, but the rule is sort of changed if you two are absolutely in love." He rolled his eyes and exhaled, "You two obviously are meant to be together and have no issues with each other, so a year may actually be too long to wait."

Chiya gasped softly and nodded, "Exactly! I don't wanna' wait a few years for marriage, I want to be his wife _now_!"

Bart nodded, "Well, first of all, let's do some review…"

Chiya groaned, "I don't have a pencil…"

"What- uh, no." Bart smirked and cleared his throat, "We need to review your relationship to see if this truly is Earl to blame for the marriage hesitation…"

Chiya nodded with a strict face, "Okay!"

Bart pointed at her, "Firstly, have you made yourself a desirable woman for him?"

"Desirable?"

"If you show no signs of desirability, he will have no reason to marry you. He needs to see clear parts of you that he feels he needs in his life. Things that he loves about you, whether it be hair, your attitude, your hobbies-"

"He likes my feet…"

Bart widened his eyes and quickly lowered his eyebrows, "U-uh, okay…"

Chiya quirked her mouth and sighed, "But that's just bad chemistry. I don't like showing my feet to anyone, and he wants to see them."

"If you don't feel comfortable, then you don't take them off."

Chiya smiled, "Got it."

"What else does he see in you that he must love?"

Chiya dipped her head down and bit on her finger, "Well, he said that he loves my cooking…"

"Great! Improve on that!"

Chiya beamed at him, "Yeah! If I can get better and better at cooking, he'll realize that I'm the best cook he'll ever meet and will definitely want to marry me!"

Bart smirked, "Well hold on now, that's just one thing. We need to find several things about you that he may like."

Chiya rubbed her chin and hummed, "He likes to fix stuff…" Bart raised an eyebrow at her, she smiled and looked up at him, "I like engine maintenance…"

"Well, you're an F-Zero racer. Maybe talk about engines with him, try fiddling around your engine with him."

"He also likes when I laugh at his jokes…"

Bart grinned and shrugged, "What guy doesn't?"

Chiya flapped her arms wildly, "So why doesn't he marry my already!?"

"Perhaps he's scared."

"Scared?"

"Marriage is a very serious thing, Chiya. First you get married, get a place together, have children, and before you know it, you're old."

Chiya laughed and let out a snort, "Grow old? We're in our twenties."

"Love will make time fly. Tell me, did last year seem to go by quicker compared to the previous year?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and hummed, "Now that you mention it…"

"Here's what you really need to do. You need to go undercover, figure out what will lead him into marriage. If he has some fear, you need to figure it out and destroy it."

Chiya hummed, "Do you think he's afraid to ask me?"

Bart shrugged, "That is for you to find out, Chiya."

Chiya finished her tea and nodded, "Fine, if Earl tells you one day what the problem is, will you tell me?" Bart sighed and shook negatively, "Come on then, why not?"

"I respect all secrets. If Earl reveals to me why he is hesitating, I must respect his privacy and keep this a secret from me."

Chiya growled and slammed her fists down, "What if his problem involves my bloody vagin-" she shut her eyes tightly to stop herself, Bart was glaring at her, but momentarily smirked and nodded approvingly at her decision to stop herself, "You can't at least help me by guiding me into the right direction to fixing the issue?"

Bart nodded, "I can try, but I certainly won't make it obvious to you."

She sighed and nodded, "Well, thank you for your help. But now, onto another matter…" Bart raised an eyebrow at her, Chiya looked up at him and beamed, "Do you think I could sport some lipstick!?"

Jody was in her pajamas as she slowly crept down the stairs towards floor -10 of the Federation HQ. Her eyes were closed in exhaustion as she did so, she was only relying on the railing against the wall for support in getting down. Her exhaustion was practically blinding her at this point. Her situation was beyond anything she had ever encountered, her dreams and thoughts were keeping her from sleeping.

She quickly landed her feet down in front of the door to the room, she grasped the doorknob and grinded her teeth furiously. Jody forced the door open and walked inside, the first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was something that greatly disturbed her. There was another twenty-pack of beer empty on the floor, the one Clash had brought back the previous night.

"…what the Hell..?" she muttered in frustration.

Ultimately, she was too exhausted to concern herself with this, and merely walked past it towards Seppuku's resting place. She approached the door and sighed loudly as she slowly entered. She clenched her fists and walked through the freezing room, she was not clothed very well for such conditions, but she could hardly care.

She launched her eyes open upon grasping the metal chain attached to the rightful. She turned on the light and glared at Seppuku's coffin. She cracked her knuckles and growled loudly. She had finally lost it, she launched herself down on the coffin and slammed her fists against it furiously.

"Damn you, damn you! You're haunting me! I know it, you're haunting me!" Jody continued to pound on the coffin, "I know that you're dead, but somehow, somehow, your soul entered my head!"

She continued to grunt loudly in fury, her constant pounding wouldn't stop, "Even while dead you find a way to pester me! I don't care that I killed you, you need to leave my head and go back down to Hell!"

Jody finally glared at the coffin intensely and put her fingers down along the side of the coffin. Her eyes were now beyond red, she truly believed that Seppuku had found a way to haunt her. Jody lifted the coffin open very slowly while hyperventilating in anger, and finally, it opened.

Jody gasped and widened her eyes at the sight of the man. She shook negatively in disbelief with quivering eyes.

"I- impossible…"

Seppuku was lying perfectly still in the coffin. His visor remained dark, and he still had the exact same grin on his face that he had when he died. Oddly enough, his body hadn't begun to decompose, nor was it growing pale. Jody was too exhausted to realize the strange fact that Seppuku's skin still had pigment. The only thing she was focusing on angrily, was his face.

She continued to grunt loudly at his face, the grin on his face was highly provoking to her.

"You knew that this was going to happen! That's why you died with that smirk on your face!" she grinded her teeth furiously at him and shook negatively, "You need to stop this charade, Lieutenant! I'm just a woman trying to work my way up in life, I can't go back on what I did to you, you've put me under stress for long enough!" She pounded on his chest roughly and growled loudly, "Hear me, Seppuku!? Just leave me alone! Get the Hell out of my head!"

She continued to pound on his chest constantly with tightly closed eyes, "Get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head!"

"That's quite enough, Jody."

Jody gasped and opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Seppuku's grin, but her tired eyes slowly looked over at the door, revealing Dr. Stewart. Jody grunted and quickly closed the coffin up. She turned around and shook negatively at Stewart.

"Stewart! It's not what it looks-"

"Enough, no more lying, I've caught you," Jody grunted and gritted her teeth, "This _is_ all over the Lieutenant, you've just been foolishly denying this ever since…"

Jody shook negatively at him, "That's not true…"

"Jody, I just saw what you were doing. I doubt you just suddenly felt the urge to come down and shout at a dead man's body…"

She dipped her head down and lowered her eyelids; she let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes. Stewart continued to stare at her for several moments as a heavy silence occurred. Jody finally collapsed onto her knees and let out a loud sigh of defeat.

"May I finally help you through this?" asked Stewart.

Jody slightly opened her eyes with a quivering frown, she silently nodded and turned her head away. Stewart exhaled and approached her.

"Get dressed and meet me in my office in an hour."

He reached out towards her, Jody stared at his hand for several moments. She looked up at him and nodded again, momentarily grasping his hand. Stewart walked back out the door with Jody, she slowly rested her head on his shoulder in exhaustion as they walked.

"Come on then, there's gotta' be some breath mints in here somewhere…" Chiya muttered while digging in Seppuku's desk.

Chiya had gone home in search of Earl, but he was still absent from the area. She decided that one way to woe Earl's emotions would be to make herself as attractive as possible, starting with good breath. As to why she assumed Seppuku had the answer to her problem in his desk was unknown to her.

"Damn…" she groaned after shutting a desk drawer.

She opened up a bottom drawer, this one was much larger and contained various items. She widened her eyes at all of the supplies inside of the drawer, as she had never opened any of these before. She squinted and spotted a thick book in the drawer.

"Thirteen Joints Connecting to the Spine and How to Break Them…" she read aloud.

She grasped a shiny tube from the drawer and rubbed her chin with a confused look, she squinted at the label.

"Head and shoulders dandruff remover…" she dropped the bottle down and cringed, "Ew-w!"

She leaned into the drawer and squinted again, searching around for anything that could help her. She raised an eyebrow and found a photo underneath some loose change and a tooth. She held the photo up and brushed the dust off of it, revealing a much younger Jody Summer. Chiya widened her eyes and gasped, she was fairly undressed in the photo and was only in her undergarments. Chiya began to twitch and set the photo back down.

"Why did he have this photo..?"

Chiya was contemplating whether this was a candid photo or not, clearly this was taken during Seppuku's time as a Federation detective. What puzzled him, was that the photo appeared intentional on Jody's part.

Finally, Chiya widened her eyes and gasped as she grasped a green bumpy plastic rod-like object. She lifted it up and raised an eyebrow at it, wondering what this was.

"Huh..?"

She examined the rod for a few moments, unsure of what this was. She quirked her mouth and flipped the rod around, she had found a button. She raised her eyebrows in intrigue and hesitantly clicked the button on. Chiya gasped as the rod began to instantly vibrate consistently.

She beamed at the rod and softly chuckled, "Oh, my, God. I know what this is…" she muttered at the _toy_, she grasped the rod with both hands and continued to chuckle, "Boy, do I need this…"

About five minutes later, the door to Seppuku's office began to open. Earl was rubbing his hands together as he had been searching for Chiya, and unfortunately, he found her at a strange time…

Earl widened his eyes as he came to an immediate stop, he was staring at Chiya who was now sitting behind Seppuku's desk with a very taken back look. Her eyes were closed and she proceeded to let out a groan of pleasure.

"Chiya, what are you doing?"

Chiya opened her eyes and beamed at him, she removed her hand from her back and held up the toy.

"I found this electric back massager in Seppuku's desk!"

Earl grinned at her and nodded, but after studying the toy more closely, his eyes were shot open. He gasped and instantly gushed red as he stared at the toy intensely.

"Chiya!"

She widened her eyes at him and turned off the electric toy, "Yeah-"

"D- drop that on the desk, now!"

Chiya gasped and did as she was instructed, Earl was grinding his teeth in horror and was simply staring at her hand. Chiya was clearly clueless as to what this _back massager_ actually was. Earl quickly sped behind her and grabbed her shoulders, helping her out of his seat.

"Now, I want you to go wash your hands. Wash them good!"

Chiya grunted, "W- what? Why?"

"Use a lot of soap!"

"Why?"

"Clean your hands!"

Chiya backed away from Earl and lowered her eyebrows in confusion, "Um, okay, but what's wrong…"

Earl pointed at the toy with quivering eyes, "Don't you get it? That's not a back massager, it's..." Chiya blinked at him a few times, Earl continued to tremble in shock, but momentarily lowered his eyebrows, "Er-rm…"

Chiya was standing still, waiting for a response, but Earl obviously didn't want to accidentally teach Chiya about the reality of _toys_. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head.

"I mean, that's not a back massager…" he snapped his fingers with a fake quivering smile, "I- it's Seppuku's back massager!"

Chiya smirked at him and shrugged, "Can't we share it?"

Earl began to push the toy behind the computer, out of her sight, "Imagine, Seppuku always wore that large coat no matter where he was. He must have gotten very sweaty whenever he would use the back massager. Do you know what kind of germs travel in sweat?"

Chiya gasped and looked at her hands, "Oh God! Ew, ew, e-ew!" she squealed running off.

Earl watched as she ran off in a panic, but he was happy with the outcome of this, and especially happy that he had walked in before she discovered what this really was. Earl grabbed a napkin from Seppuku's desk and grasped the toy with it. Before tossing it in the garbage, he quirked his mouth at it and hummed. He looked back up at the door, then at the computer wallpaper of Chiya. He slightly smirked as he stared at her photo.

He stuck the toy in his jacket and walked away while whistling.

Earl retracted from Chiya's lips slowly while sitting on the couch with her. Chiya kept her eyes closed and slowly exhaled, no matter how much time had passed, Chiya always viewed any kiss from him as breathtaking. Earl wiped his lips and smirked, Chiya laid her head back against the couch and smiled faintly.

"Where were you today?" asked Chiya.

"Gambling."

Chiya narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "When you say gambling, you don't mean on an undercover mission for Black Shadow, do you?"

Earl grabbed her hands and placed a casino palace token in her hand, "Nope, I was gambling. My days as Excalibur are over."

He patted her cheek and closed his eyes with a grin, "I've been saving up for Project Neptune all year, and I'm finally about eighty percent to my goal."

Chiya raised an eyebrow, "I don't get it, what _is_ Project Neptune?"

Earl chuckled at her, "I can't tell you, it's a secret. All I can tell you is that it's very, very, expensive."

Chiya puckered her lips, "Like, how expensive?"

"Two-million Federation credits."

Chiya gasped, "Blimey! What are you planning on buying, a city!? That's two percent of the F-Zero Grand Prix prize money!"

"It's a secret."

Chiya narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "You know, the last time you kept a secret from me, you were put in a wheelchair for several months…"

"I've given that up, Chiya. You and I are simple going- well, I'm a simple going person at least."

"What do you mean by that, Earl..?" she responded hostilely.

"Well, an F-Zero racer doesn't necessarily live a very simple life."

Chiya rubbed on his arm and slightly frowned, quickly reminded about her desire for marriage. She looked up at him and lowered her eyebrows.

"Am I boring in your eyes?"

Earl widened his eyes, "Boring?"

"You don't seem very interested in me…"

Earl chuckled and shook negatively, "Chiya, we were just romancing each other a second ago, where would you get an idea like that?"

"But, do you find me helpful at all?"

"Of course I do!"

Chiya dipped her head down and nodded, "I'm going to improve my cooking skills…"

Earl licked his lips and chuckled, "Oh boy!"

She looked up at him again and smiled. Her desire for marriage was immense, and her dream of having a baby with him was also high; but as long as the two were living happily together, she could take her time in pressuring him for marriage and _intimacy_.

Jody was lying on a very cushiony sofa in Dr. Stewart's office. She hadn't guessed that Stewart's license also labeled him as a therapist, as he had never hinted this before.

She lowered her eyebrows in frustration as she looked around his office, she quirked her mouth in disgust at his office's appearance, it was much decorated and had motivational posters all over the walls.

She sighed and looked over at Stewart, who was sitting behind his desk.

"You can close your eyes if you wish, Jody, this is supposed to be a relaxing conversation."

Jody growled softly, "I don't feel very relaxed…" she glared at him and grunted, "W- who's watching my desk for important calls!?"

"Rela-ax, I have it covered…"

Jack Levin picked up Jody's phone and smirked, "Hello?"

"Y- yes, I need help right away, I think my ex-boyfriend is breaking into my house!"

Jack nodded to himself, "I see, I see, I'll have a cruiser dispatched to your location right away, ma'am."

"Oh God, thank you…"

Jack puckered his lips and chuckled, "So your _ex-boyfriend_?"

"I- I think so…"

"-and how old are you?"

"Twenty-one?"

"I'm going to have to ask for your cellphone number, please…" he responded with a grin.

Jody exhaled with a twitching eyebrow, Stewart crossed his fingers together and blinked a few times at her.

"Alright, I'll start off by asking; are these consistent nightmares you're having always about the Lieutenant?"

Jody gritted her teeth, "Yes! He's haunting me, I don't know how he is, but he must have found away in the afterlife to haunt my dreams!" she widened her eyes, revealing the bright red veins in her exhausted eyes, "…he's trying to kill me through exhaustion…"

Stewart lowered his eyebrows, "I see…" he rubbed his chin and quirked his mouth, "What is he doing in these dreams?"

Jody closed her eyes again and sighed, "We talk."

"Talk?"

"I either dream about the moment where I killed him, or a simple dream where I'm in a conversation with the irritating man. He always twists my words around and makes me sound like an idiot, much like he did in real life…" she rubbed her forehead and exhaled, "That's why I know he's haunting me. How would I be dreaming of such clever, cunning, and cocky responses?"

"So he doesn't attack you?"

Jody lowered her eyebrows while keeping her eyes closed as she thought deeply. No matter what dream she had, Seppuku was never violent.

"No…"

"May I ask what you two speak about usually?"

Jody turned her head and sighed loudly, "We just always argue, whether my decision to execute him was justified or not…"

"Always?"

"Either I dream about killing him or debate with him over his execution…"

"Aha-a…"

Jody crossed her arms angrily, "What do you mean, aha-a?"

"Face it, Jody, you're not being haunted, you just haven't gotten over what you've done."

Jody shot her eyes open furiously, "What I've done!? What about what he's done!?"

"What has he done, Jody?"

"Are you mad? You know very well what he's done!"

"I know what he's done, now, you tell me what you think he did to deserve execution…"

Jody dipped her head down and closed her eyes slowly, "H- he has been an illegal vigilante for years, taking matters into his own hands. He illegally possessed Japanese property, has harassed officers of the law…" she tightly closed her eyes with a quivering frown, "-and, worst of all, he broke my-"

"Will you simply accept that these dreams you're having may just be a result of built up feelings of guilt?"

Jody remained silent for many seconds, she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. She grasped her forehead and groaned sadly while shaking negatively. Stewart raised an eyebrow at her as she appeared to struggle to get something off of her chest. But she couldn't hold the truth in any longer, so her emotions finally exploded.

"I didn't kill him for any of his crimes!" she blurted out loudly in despair.

Stewart grunted and widened his eyes, "What?"

Jody hid her face in her palms and shook her head rapidly, "No, it had nothing to do with the crimes! I killed him because I knew that Black Shadow wanted to get his hands on him, and I couldn't let this happen…"

Stewart glared at her briefly, but then got a saddened look as he noticed how hurt she truly was. He hummed and nodded at her as she continued to squirm.

"I swear I didn't want to, but I had to! If Black Shadow managed to make a clone army of Seppuku's, this entire planet's population would cease to exist!" she exhaled loudly, "Seppuku alone probably could have killed every single one of those SWAT soldiers the day we captured him, but he didn't…"

"Just admit it, Jody…" Jody moved her hands back down, but kept her eyes closed, "You miss the Lieutenant."

Jody shook negatively, "Not at all!"

"You loved him."

"Absolutely not!"

Stewart growled, "Fine, but you know just as much as I do that you feel guilty about this; and until you admit this, you'll continue to suffer every night…"

Jody remained silent for a few moments; Stewart was tapping his finger down fairly impatiently for a response. She soon stopped moving her body completely and exhaled softly. She dropped her hand down to the floor and turned her body away from Stewart.

"Okay, fine…" Stewart raised an eyebrow at her as she slowly curled herself up, "He saved me two years ago from my burning machine, helped stop the gang war, attempted to help me secure Magica in the Federation, saved you from dying on Aeropolis, and finally, he saved all of Green Plant from utter destruction…"

Jody slightly opened her eyes, revealing watery slits, "Of course I feel guilty…" she crossed her arms and turned back towards him with her eyes shut, "He deserved a Japanese Red Ribbon Medal of Honor, not electrocution…"

"So, do you regret what you did?"

Jody dipped her head down onto her chest and sighed, "No." Stewart glared at her again in disbelief, Jody shook negatively, "I truly believe I committed a crime, and I honestly deserve to be fired, put in prison, whatever; but in my heart, I know this was a forced sacrifice if anything. Seppuku died so we could all live, and because of his sacrifice, Black Shadow will never have a truly invincible army."

"But what if Black Shadow is dead? What if this was all for nothing?"

A tear ran down Jody's cheek in response to the question, "…then I am so sorry, Lieutenant…" Stewart slightly smiled at her, "…and I forgive you for being such a bastard to me these last few years…"

Stewart nodded at her, feeling that Jody had done the right thing by revealing this to Stewart. She was right, under any other circumstance, she would be removed from power and likely placed in prison for such a crime; but he knew that Jody was in pain because of this. He was prepared to keep this a secret from the public, as he still wanted Jody to become future commander of the Federation.

Jody had become completely silent now and still had her eyes closed, Stewart continued to stare at her for several moments wondering how this would affect the team in the long run. This would likely remain a secret strictly kept between Jody and Stewart.

Stewart momentarily grinned upon hearing something from Jody—a slight wheeze. He stood up and approached Jody, wondering if he should wake her up and help her back to her room. After staring at Jody in her calm slumber for a few more seconds, he came to the ultimate conclusion that it would be best to leave her alone. Stewart turned towards his door with a grin, simply turning off the lights and leaving his office.

Later that night, Earl was eating dinner with Chiya, and just as she had hoped, her cooking had gotten even better. Earl glanced up at her as they ate and chuckled without opening his mouth. Chiya blinked at him with a smile.

"Maybe we should turn this building into an eating establishment."

Chiya grunted and quickly blushed, "Oh, come on now…"

"No, really, imagine how much we would make if we were to install a drive through; and this lobby is probably big enough to feature several tables."

Chiya continued to gush red, "Ea-arl, come on, I'm not _that_ good. People go through classes to become cooks…" she shrugged and smiled, "Besides; I'm an F-Zero racer."

"Well, we should still consider getting a steady income for the years we don't win the Grand Prix. Either way, we need a job eventually…"

"Well, I would like to sell this place to someone and move to Aeropolis when we get-" she widened her eyes and fake coughed, "W- when we feel that the time is right…"

Earl continued to stare at her for several moments as he chewed his food; he swallowed and grinned at her.

"So, I was at the mall today looking around for a new wrench…" Chiya rolled her eyes with a smile, "I saw this ruby studded gold hammer and it made me think of you; because I love rubies, much like-"

"A-aw, that's so sweet…"

Earl rubbed his arm and smirked, "Is there some kind of jewel you find just as pretty as, say, Mauser? Or me?"

Chiya blinked at him for a few moments, she then got a very heavy beam and shook her fists around excitedly.

"I love sapphire!"

Earl nodded, "That's the blue one, right?"

"Yeah!"

"That's nice, why do you like sapphire?"

"Because, I _love_ blue…"

Earl nodded and closed his eyes, "Interesting…" he smirked and wiggled his fingers around, "I like ruby because it's red, I suppose…" he chuckled and crossed his arms together, "Sapphire and Ruby, two colors that make the Korean flag…"

"That's true! Very cool."

The two continued to have dinner with each other, but this time it was revolving around the romance of their life some more. Chiya loved this, but unfortunately for her, Earl was about to change the subject.

"So, about this pirate alliance deal…"

Chiya widened her eyes and quirked her mouth, "Ah, right…"

The two remained silent as they thought about this. Chiya had come to the conclusion that if she didn't help Goroh and Guster, they would become hostile towards her; but if she did help them, she would lose Captain Falcon as an ally and quite possibly gain a few new enemies. She could also kiss any chance of being awarded the title _Model Racer_. Being the Model Racer was a very prestigious title handed down to the best role model racer on the track, this was the racer who children would likely look up to as a hero. Captain Falcon was currently the Model Racer, but Chiya was nearly neck-and-neck with him for the title.

"I wish Seppuku would be available to help me…"

"I know…"

This was ultimately a very difficult decision for Chiya to make. Obviously, siding with Goroh and Guster would be the wrong approach, but possibly the safest. She hummed and rubbed her chin as she began to put together a possible plan.

"What if I pretend to be allied with the two?" asked Chiya.

"Why would we do that?"

"Because, if I tell them that I'm helping them and stay away from them, maybe I can secretly have their protection along with Captain Falcon's. That's more allies than I've ever had!"

Earl hummed and nodded, "It might work…"

"There's no doubt in my mind that I'll score first place a few times with that kind of help. Then all I need to do is be very careful when we get to the final race."

"You don't trust that Captain Falcon would protect you from Goroh?"

Chiya sighed and crossed her fingers, "I'm gonna' level with you Earl…" she clenched her fists and grinded her teeth roughly, "I, have always, hated Goroh…"

"Ever since I got stabbed?"

"No, Abby and me both hated him! He has always been a rival of Captain Falcon, and I have always been a Captain Falcon fan in my life…"

"Your point?"

Chiya crossed her arms, "Captain Falcon and Goroh seem to be equals to some extent, I don't want to risk getting Captain Falcon hurt on my behalf…"

Earl exhaled and nodded, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Chiya nodded, "Absolutely, I'm just going to stay away from the two pirates at all costs. That way I don't have to defend them, yet claim that I'm allied."

"-and what if the public figures out that you're allied?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and hummed, "Well, I need to be careful not to get caught…"

Earl smirked at her and shook his finger at her, "Sneaky, Ms. Flower…"

Somewhere in the evening, the two were in the garage working. Chiya was holding the metal plate with the cutout cat still against the body of her machine; Earl had a pink spray can and proceeded to shake it up.

"You might get some paint on you, but I'm sure you can just wash it off."

Chiya shrugged and puckered her lips, "I'll just take another bath."

Earl nodded and aimed the spray can towards the metal sheet, he quirked his mouth and quickly began to spray a thick layer of pink paint onto the sheet. Chiya cringed and widened her eyes as some of the paint got on her.

"C- cold!"

"Don't let go!" he panicked.

Chiya kept a strong hold on the sheet of metal, but this paint was abnormally cold for reasons unknown. Earl sprayed the edges of the cutout to make sure that the decal would end up perfect. Her hands were now becoming completely covered in pink paint, but Earl was showing signs of stopping.

After a few more moments of spraying, he stopped and set the can down. The smell of the spray filled the air and was somewhat plugging Chiya's nose.

"Can I let go?"

Earl nodded and put his fingers under the plate, he slowly proceeded to lift it up. Chiya beamed at the clear image of a pink cat with the title of her machine below it. Earl smirked and nodded.

"Thank God, it looks pretty sharp!"

Chiya rubbed her hands on the metal with a large smile, "Everybody is going to be so jealous!"

Earl got a nervous smile and nodded, "Yeah…"

"I mean, just look at this! Imagine how neat this is going to look when in heated action!"

"Fortunately, this is on top of the body, so it shouldn't ever get scraped unless you're propelled into the air and knocked upside down."

Chiya laughed, "That will never happen…"

"It could, you know what happened-"

"That final race was unfair. I had no idea that Seppuku would attack me, had I known, I would have easily dodged his attack and raced right to the finish."

Earl nodded and crossed his arms, "Regardless, you're right, you'll be racing in style this year," he smirked at her, "New racing suit, redecorated machine, tuned up machine, and experience under your belt."

Chiya nodded and swung her fist up, "Yep! So everyone better watch out!"

Some paint flew off of Chiya's fist as she did this and hit Earl on the face, she grunted and backed away from him.

"Uh, sorry…"

Dr. Stewart and the rest of Jody's team were sitting around the lounging area of the HQ late at night. Jody hadn't been seen the rest of the day, but her shift had been taken over without any problems. Stewart was now discussing with the team about how to deal with an incident that occurred in the Gambling Area of Mute City. He was the acting leader in the event that Jody was absent.

"-what we need to do, is ensure that business owners in the Gambling Area can give back owed money in the event that the power goes off."

Rick nodded at him, "Why not go back to the traditional method, keep a written record somewhere that keeps track of the amounts owed."

Stewart shrugged, "That would be a good course to take, but unfortunately, these owners are so lazy and irresponsible that they'll probably disregard this request."

Jack snapped his fingers, "Make it a law?"

"That would require too much paperwork and politics. We'd like to reach a consensus without involving Emperor Yamato…"

"Yeah, but we can just add it into the list of Mute City regulations, can't we?" asked Tanaka.

"Still a part of Japan and would require government authorization," answered Stewart.

Everyone gasped as Jody Summer kicked open the door. She was now in her typical pink and red bodysuit. Tanaka was trembling behind Stewart in fear. Jody now had bright white eyes again and a very concentrated expression as she approached the group.

"The answer to the predicament is simple. We warn the business owners that we'll pull our funding away if they fail to accommodate the people when they ask for money—local sanctions, per se..."

Stewart grinned at Jody as she had instantly begun to run the show.

"What if the business owners complain to the government?" asked Rick.

Jody swatted her hands into her fist, "They have no case; we voluntarily fund the Gambling Area, there is no justification for suing us."

Stewart chuckled softly and nodded, "Alright, that issue is finally resolved…"

Jody walked through the group towards the center of the room; Jack smirked at her and clapped, "Hey, Jody! You're not crazy anymore!"

Jody swiftly spun around and slapped him across the cheek, instantly sending him to the floor. Jack grunted and rubbed his cheek.

"Damn right."

She walked up to the front of the lounge and held her hand up, "Now that I'm better, we must center our attention on an escalating issue amongst the team…" everybody began to glance at one another, Jody pointed at the group with a firm finger, "Someone, is stealing all of the beer that we all keep paying for!"

Stewart raised an eyebrow at her, "Quite peculiar…"

Rick and Tanaka both glared at Jack, who instantly grunted and grinded his teeth.

"It's not me!"

Rick chuckled, "Yeah right…"

Jody snapped her fingers and growled, "Now, personally, I don't care that one of you idiots are killing your body by somehow drinking twenty cans of beer a day…" she crossed her arms, "But regardless, this is well spent money going to waste, and I expect it to stop…"

Clash rubbed his forehead, "How do you know that someone on this team is stealing it?"

"Because, the beer is always kept in floor negative ten; and only we have access to that room…"

Stewart nodded respectfully, "Solution?"

"I'm going to have all personnel blood tested tomorrow afternoon, the alcohol should still be present." Everybody began to exchange nervous glances, Jody was eyeballing everyone in the room, "I expect _everyone_ to be present for the test…"

Jack quirked his mouth at Rick, "Rick…"

"Jack…"

Jody slapped her hand down on her thigh, "Shut up, there's no need to fight. We'll get to the bottom of this, and I'll kick the ass of whoever's trying to be funny."

Tanaka face palmed and began to chuckle, "This is silly…"

Jody proceeded to stare at him, "You say that, John, but you never know…" she narrowed her eyes and gazed upon her team.

"Someone who would steal from their team, is disloyal enough to do anything…"

To be continued…


	6. Lap 5

==Lap 5=

The following afternoon, Chiya stood in the kitchen with a puzzled look on her face. This was a rare day where the temperature was very low; as such coldness was uncommon in Japan. Christmas was right around the corner, and this year, Earl planned on making it perfect for Chiya. The previous year he hadn't gotten her a present, but Chiya had gone through much trouble in getting him the perfect present.

Chiya was looking down at the microwave patiently as time went by, she was preparing a snack that she wouldn't normally make.

"Come on, pop already…" she muttered in frustration.

The popcorn had been in the microwave for two minutes, but had yet to pop a single kernel. Chiya was left wondering if the microwave was capable of doing its job at this point. The microwave was clearly old and damaged, but replacing it would be too expensive.

"If Earl would just take some cash out of his little Project Neptune project, maybe we could buy a new bloody microwave…"

Chiya continued to stare at the flat popcorn bag for another fifteen seconds, but then it happened. She gasped as a single kernel popped.

"O-oh! That was exhilarating!"

She gasped again as two more kernels popped, then three, and just like that the bag was popping. Chiya clapped her hands with a gleeful smile as the popcorn was very quickly coming together.

"I love food…" she muttered with lowered eyelids.

Chiya gasped and widened her eyes as the door was forced open very loudly, Earl charged into the room while panting and quickly grabbed Chiya's hand.

"Come on! You're on F-Zero TV right now!"

Chiya grunted and grasped the counter as he pulled on her, "Yeah? So what, I'm always talked about on TV these days."

"No, they want you to come on F-Zero TV for a live interview!"

Chiya's eyes were much wider now, Earl was pulling on her more roughly, but Chiya was resisting.

"B- but my popcorn!"

"Forget about it!"

"No!"

Chiya reached for the microwave while grunting, but Earl continued to pull on her. She gasped as the bag was becoming slightly bloated; it was going to be burnt in a matter of seconds.

"Earl! The popcorn's going to burn!"

He lowered his eyebrows and let go of her, Chiya went flying towards the microwave and quickly opened it. She took out the popcorn and licked her lips excitedly.

"Yummy yummy butter…"

She gasped as Earl immediately grabbed her and charged back out the door.

"Again, we're searching for returning racer Chiya Flower for a live interview; if you know about her whereabouts, please give us a whisper so we can get her up here."

Chiya and Earl were on the couch together, she had her legs crossed over his lap while eating out of the popcorn bag. Earl rubbed his chin and looked over at her quickly.

"Well, do you want to head over to the Mute City F-Zero TV station?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and dipped her head down as she ate, "I'm scared…"

"Scared of what?"

Chiya shoved several kernels in her mouth and shrugged, "Stage fright," she said with a full mouth.

Earl chuckled and rubbed her knee, "Stage fright? You race in front of the entire universe, how can you be afraid to simply get up there and talk?"

Chiya closed her eyes and remained silent for a few moments as she ate, she momentarily opened her eyes and giggled, "This butter is amazing…"

Earl smirked at her, "Are you going to take this seriously, o-or…"

"Well, what would I even talk about?"

"You answer questions and such."

Chiya stuck out her tongue and shook negatively, "Ew, no thanks, sounds a lot like something called, jeez, I don't know…" she closed her eyes defiantly as she continued to eat, "School?"

"Why are you being so stubborn about this? This is a huge opportunity to talk about yourself."

Chiya was licking her fingers as she heard this, but the last part finally caught her attention. She slowly opened her eyes into narrowed slits while licking her finger.

"Go on…"

"Well, no one really knows who you are, only that you're a spirited young F-Zero racer. The people probably want to know about you, your hobbies, things you like, things you hate-"

Chiya set the popcorn down between her legs and smirked, "So-o, the short and simple part being…" she puckered her lips and clapped her hands together, "I get to talk about myself?"

"Yeah, probably."

Chiya tapped her lip a few times and began to bounce on the couch slightly, "Suddenly, this sounds like a really good idea…"

Earl smiled, "Great! I'll call up the station and tell them that we're coming."

Chiya shoved more popcorn in her mouth, "You know what else would be a really good idea..?"

"Hm?"

Chiya beamed at the popcorn and raised it up to his face, "Buying more of this, and some bags of butter to pour over the popcorn."

"But, isn't it already buttered?"

Chiya chuckled, "The more the merrier!"

Earl nodded and put his hand into the bag to pull out a few kernels, his hand easily slipped off of Chiya's buttery hand as he reached inside. He took out a few kernels and ate them; Chiya continued to eat as well.

Earl smirked, "You know, we could get other brands of popcorn…"

Chiya beamed at him, "Other brands?"

"Yeah, there's plain, ultra-butter, salt…"

"Woah!"

Earl snapped his fingers and chuckled, "-and get ready for this…" Chiya was staring at him anxiously, "We can buy caramel popcorn!"

Chiya lowered her eyelids, "Caramel popcorn?"

"Yeah!"

Chiya handed Earl the popcorn and sighed as she got up and walked towards his door.

"Thanks for ruining popcorn…"

A few minutes later, Chiya found herself driving nervously down the streets of the Upper City. F-Zero TV was one of the most watched television networks and even attracted interest to children. There was an alternative channel, F-Zero TVKids, which was specifically made for children. F-Zero TVKids was very careful not to offend their audience and would properly cut out and clips that may be deemed as offensive. On the planet of Mysteria, these two stations were not allowed to air; rather, the government had its own military approved version of F-Zero TV. This was what Chiya grew up watching.

Chiya whimpered slightly and glanced over at Earl, "I'm scared…"

"I thought you liked this idea."

"I do, but what I'm going to be talking in front of millions of people, maybe even Black Shadow!"

"Black Shadow is probably dead, Chiya."

She dipped her head down and made a right turn onto the main highway. She could see the large F-Zero TV tower far across Mute City, it was flashing lights and had a glowing sign. This tower was very tall, but still not nearly as tall as the Federation HQ. Chiya bit on her finger as she gazed at the tower.

"I wonder if Mom and Abby will be watching…"

Earl smirked, "Maybe not live, but I'm sure they'll catch your interview in the reruns."

Chiya lowered her eyelids, "Well, unless Abby's dead or a forced mother to several rapists…"

"Don't talk like that. You turned out alright, so I'm sure your sister did too."

Chiya remained silent for a few moments, she quirked her mouth and sighed, "She must be turning nineteen soon…"

Earl widened his eyes, "You mean, she was seventeen when we first met?"

"Yeah, and Mom sent her to Sand Ocean when she was eighteen, apparently."

Earl remained still with a somewhat disturbed expression. He didn't want to frighten Chiya about this, but he himself was beginning to fear how an eighteen year old could possibly fare on a planet as impoverished as Sand Ocean. Chiya was sent to Earth at age eighteen, but fortunately, she landed in the most striving city in the universe and was able to at least live in an abandoned building eating scraps. Abigail would need to have found some form of building to survive. Earl knew she was either dead or living with someone.

"Um, I think you can make a left here…"

Chiya exhaled and smiled faintly, "Big Blue…"

Earl smiled back, "You should talk about your excitement for Big Blue, maybe if you give them a shout out, they'll give us a discount on a luxury place."

Chiya narrowed her eyes and smirked deviously, "Do you think if I gave a shout out to the Mute City salon, they would let me go there for free?"

"Don't get greedy, Chiya. Just because you're famous doesn't mean you should take advantage of people, despite how things look, you're not better than anyone."

Chiya nodded, "We're all equal human beings."

Jody slammed her office door shut and slowly turned her head around. Every member of her team was now present inside of her office for the blood test she had ordered. There was a slight amount of distrust going around the team over something as silly as alcohol, and Jody felt that it was necessary to punish the wrongdoer.

Stewart was leaning against Jody's desk as she began to walk around her team.

"Alright, we're going to get through this as briefly as possible. But of course, if anyone wants to admit to their crime; I might let you off the hook with minor consequences…" No one responded to her, she sighed and nodded, "Thought so…"

Dr. Stewart opened a metal case full of syringes; Jody grasped a syringe and attached it to a device. She turned towards Jack and blinked a few times.

"Jack, since you're the most suspicious one here, we'll do you first…"

Jack grunted and lowered his eyebrows in offense, "Fine, test me."

Jody approached him quickly and roughly plugged his arm with the syringe, Jack shouted in agony and glared at Jody as she took the simple blood sample.

"Why so rough!?" he demanded loudly.

"I wasn't rough."

She removed the syringe and looked at the device; it was loading the data it had collected. Tanaka put his chin over her shoulder to look at the device, but Jody shoved him aside. The device blipped and Jody raised her eyebrows in shock.

"BAC of zero…"

Jack let out a laugh and stepped back, "Of course I didn't do it."

She inserted a new syringe and looked up at her team, "Next…"

Tanaka leapt in front of her with a gleeful grin, "I'll do it, Jody!"

Jody nodded at him and grabbed his arm, quickly inserting the needle. One thing she was doing wrong, however, was that she was injecting them through their clothing. Tanaka began to whistle a tune as Jody slowly took out the needle. He rubbed his head and quirked his mouth nervously.

"So uh, there's a Chinese band coming to Mute City this Friday, and I was wondering-"

"Zero…"

Tanaka stopped talking and exhaled, "Uh, yeah."

Jody pushed him away and inched her finger at the remaining four, "Next."

Stewart walked up to her and rolled his sleeve up, Jody lowered her eyebrows at Stewart, "Oh, Stewart, I know _you_ didn't do it…"

"I think everyone should be tested to make it fair…"

Jody nodded and proceeded to inject him, Stewart wasn't someone who would drink regularly, so Jody didn't have to worry about him. Rick raised his hand as Jody continued to work on Stewart.

"I'll go next."

Jody nodded at the device and put in a new syringe, "Zero..."

Rick approached her and pulled up his sleeve, revealing a fairly muscular arm. He flexed his arm and closed his eyes with a smirk.

"Go ahead, try and get through this thick-" Rick grunted loudly and shot his eyes open while twitching as Jody plunged the needle into his arm, "Ouch!" He rubbed gritted his teeth tightly and closed one eye as he continued to grunt, "Do you do that to everyone you hate?"

"I don't hate anyone here, Wheeler."

She took the syringe out of his arm and backed away from him, Rick rubbed his arm while grinding his teeth.

"That's gonna' leave a mark…" he muttered.

Jody lowered her eyebrows and growled softly, "Zero…" she was becoming impatient at this point and pointed at Dr. Clash, "Clash."

Clash walked up to her and rolled his sleeve up; Jody quickly injected him and exhaled nervously, suddenly wondering if she would be able to find the culprit this way. She looked up into Clash's eyes and found a bit of nervousness. Clash being the culprit would seem odd to her, as he was one of the two who reported the stolen beer in the first place. Yet, this could have been a clever ruse to simply get any suspicion off of him.

Jody removed the syringe and looked down at the device; everyone was staring at Clash as if they knew he was the culprit. The device blipped and Jody widened her eyes, she sighed and closed her eyes while shaking negatively.

"…zero…"

Stewart chuckled and shook negatively, "You're not going to tell us that EAD is behind this?"

The Federation android, Mr. EAD, approached Jody and stood still. EAD had a very barber-like moustache and was abnormally obese. He had a star belt buckle that resembled a famous video game series.

Jody lowered her eyebrows and injected EAD, but the needle hit a stump a quarter way through the skin. She raised an eyebrow and quickly took the needle back out. While his skin was seemingly real, his inner organs were not.

"Stewart?"

Stewart rubbed his chin and approached EAD, "Well, there are other ways, I'm sure…"

The group all had EAD on the ground and were holding him down, he was struggling through this. Jody was on the ground pinning down his right arm, she grunted as she struggled to keep the arm under control.

"Stewart, please tell me you're almost done!"

Stewart was trying to stick a tube inside of EAD's mouth, but he was resisting by turning his head constantly.

"I'm trying! He won't stop moving!"

Jody growled, "EAD! Stop resisting!"

"But I am under attack!"

Rick was holding down his left leg while grunting, "Y- you're not under attack! We're just trying to-"

Tanaka began to silently panic as his grasp on the right leg wasn't fluent at all, in fact, EAD was lifting Tanaka into the air with his foot constantly.

"Someone test him and help me down!"

Stewart growled loudly and forced the tube down his mouth, he quickly pressed a button under the tube which began suctioning his breath. EAD continued to struggle through this, but Stewart had already succeeded. He took the tube out of his mouth and jumped off of EAD's chest.

"Okay! We're good!"

Everyone let go of EAD and got back up, except for Tanaka, who had fallen off of his leg cleanly onto the floor.

Jody quickly came around towards Stewart and looked at the device, she grunted and grasped her forehead, "Zero?" she turned her head towards EAD and narrowed her eyes, "If you didn't do it, why were you resisting so much!?"

"Defense protocols."

Tanaka stood up and rubbed his chin with a quivering lip, "More like, offensive protocols…"

Jody clapped her hands together with a sarcastic grin, "Okay, so clearly the alcohol _has_ disappeared from your blood by now…" she shrugged with a smirk, "I guess we'll just have to search around the building for the missing cans then."

Jack snapped his fingers and pointed at her, "What about you?"

"Hm?"

Rick smirked, "Yeah, hold on, maybe you've been the one stealing the beer."

Jody glared at Rick, "How dare you…"

Stewart smirked as well, "Well, no offense, but you were sort of depressed, and you _are_ from Bavaria."

Jody gasped, "Y- your point?"

"Beer is popular in Bavaria…"

Jody face palmed and pulled out another syringe, "Fine, let's waste more time then…"

She injected herself in the neck; everyone widened their eyes, including Stewart. Her reaction to injecting her neck was void, as if she didn't even feel it. She immediately took the syringe back out and looked at the device. It blipped and she rose the device up in the air.

"There, zero, happy?"

Everyone remained silent as a slight bubble of blood continued to blow from her neck. Tanaka rubbed his chin and looked around the room aimlessly.

"Is it just me, or is anyone else in the mood for some pizza..?"

Chiya and Earl later found themselves in the guest room of the F-Zero TV set. The news room was just a door away and naturally, Chiya was now panicking more than ever. She constantly paced back and forth in the room as Earl sat comfortably in a luxurious red rubber chair. She was biting on her finger and constantly cussing aloud.

"Bloody Hell, why didn't I paint my nails and put on additional makeup? I'm such an idiot!"

Earl beamed at her and shook negatively, "Rela-ax…"

"How!? All of those people are going to be watching me!" she glared at her breasts and growled, "God knows my face won't be where the attention is…"

Earl chuckled and shook negatively, "Don't worry, you'll get up there, probably be a little shy at first, you'll talk, and you'll come out sad that you didn't get to talk more."

"Talk more!?"

"Trust me, when you come back through that door, you'll admit to me that this was fun."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously and slowly nodded, "I- I trust you, Earl…"

She walked up to Earl and pushed him to the side more, momentarily inserting herself in the same chair. The two were very scrunched together, but Earl wasn't complaining. He began to pat her cheeks playfully with a smirk.

"So, if you get a chance to talk freely, what are you going to talk about?"

Chiya gasped and widened her eyes, "O- oh God! I don't know!"

"Ss-sh…" he put his finger on her lip and smiled, "How about your hobbies?"

She lowered her eyebrows and nodded, "I guess I could mention that I like to cook and prepare vegetable dishes…"

"That's an idea, how about your love for cats?"

Chiya clapped her hands together, "Yeah, I can also tell everyone about the Purring Kitten's new decal!"

"See, you have things to talk about."

"You're right, Earl, this is a huge opportunity! I only got interviewed once and that was for the final race; I've never gotten a chance to talk to my fans until now."

Earl wrapped his arm around her and grinned, "Just a heads up, I'm sure you have a lot of children who love you; so try and act kid friendly."

"I am kid friendly!"

"Yeah, but don't swear or act inappropriate."

She closed her eyes and chuckled at him, "Oh, listen to you…"

"I doubt they will, but if they ask for me to come up on stage, please introduce me."

"Okay!"

"Also, don't mention anything about this Goroh-Captain Falcon secret alliance; that'd stir up a lot of controversy and-"

The door opened and a man in a tuxedo snapped his fingers at Chiya, "Come on!"

She blinked a few times in surprise at the fairly strict man; she swallowed nervously and exhaled after standing up. Earl gave her a thumbs up and watched her go towards the door, he momentarily turned his head towards the television that was in the room.

Mr. Zero was standing in the middle of the stage with a microphone. Mr. Zero was the lead anchor of F-Zero TV; he had red goggles, green spiky hair, a green tuxedo, and a red tie. Earl quirked his mouth nervously as he stared at the television.

"-and now ladies and gentlemen, we bring returning novice racer, Chiya Flower, up to the stage for an exclusive pre-season interview!"

Chiya couldn't hear, but on television there was a fake crowd cheering for her as she walked forward. She widened her eyes initially at the sight of all the floating cameras; this wasn't at all how she expected the stage to look like. She was instantly feeling much calmer knowing that there wasn't an actual audience visible to her.

She beamed at the cameras and began to wave; she shook hands with Mr. Zero with a nervous smile.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Flower."

Chiya swallowed and nodded with a fake smile, "H- hi, Mr. F-Zero…"

"We're excited to have you as our third racer interview of pre-season. How was your trip here?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and quirked her mouth, "Well, I live in the Lower City, so-o, I didn't have to drive very far…"

"Fascinating," Chiya lowered her eyebrows at this response, "Well, Chiya, this will be your second Grand Prix, after having been cheated out of last year's win. What are your thoughts this year, now that you are minus one rival, minus one ally, and have more experience as a professional racer?"

Chiya's eyes were quivering nervously; she knew that a lot of people were watching her, which was affecting her choice of words greatly.

"Um, I guess I'm pretty excited, kinda' scared, but only because my father figure is no longer here to protect me…"

"Lieutenant Seppuku?"

"Yes…"

"By the way, what _was_ your reaction to Seppuku being taken away and terminated by the Federation? Anger, sorrow, confusion?"

Chiya widened her eyes at this question and swallowed, she twirled her hair around and closed her eyes out of fear, "Um, I- I've been instructed not to speak on that matter…"

"By who?"

Chiya opened her eyes again, finding that this could be a golden opportunity to strike back at Jody. If Chiya were to admit that Jody was censoring her, this would be a clear demonstration universe-wide that Jody was indeed demonstrating Authoritarian powers. This would without a doubt get her fired.

Chiya bit her lip and ultimately shook negatively, "I cannot tell you that…"

"I see…"

"I'm sorry…"

Mr. Zero hummed and placed his hands against his waist, "Rumor has it that you were a volunteer soldier on the Battle of Green Plant last year-is this true?"

Chiya quickly nodded, "Yes, I fought alongside a group of soldiers against Black Shadow's robot army."

"Was is traumatizing for such a pretty woman?"

Chiya smiled and rubbed her head, "Yeah, yeah, it was…"

Mr. Zero rubbed his chin and quirked his mouth, "Tell us, what changes will you be bringing to the GP this year? Any major modifications to your machine?"

Chiya snapped her fingers, "Oh! I just put a new decal on my machine, it's a pink kitty!" she widened her eyes and cleared her throat, "I- I mean, a pink _cat_."

"Oh boy, I can't wait to see it. Any _performance_ modifications?"

Chiya gritted her teeth nervously and closed her eyes. _Bloody Hell, I need Earl here for this…_ she rubbed her chin and fake smiled.

"Um, yes, we improved the engine of the Purring Kitten, it can no-ow…" she widened her eyes again, having just forgotten what she was about to say, "Um…" she began to panic, realizing that this was live; but fortunately, she remembered, "Oh, my engine can now handle maximum speed for a much longer duration!"

"So, new engine coolant?"

Chiya nodded, "I think so…"

"Big Blue is great for maximum speed; we'll all be excited to see how you perform there next month…"

Chiya nodded, "I'll try my best."

"How about that new racing outfit? Why are you not wearing it?"

Chiya beamed, "That is strictly for racing only, that way it will always be special."

"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. One of the hottest topics in the F-Zero forums right now is, will you be returning to the Grand Prix this year leading that massive alliance featuring the Cross of Lorraine?"

Chiya quickly shook negatively, "That was a self-defense move that was formed merely to counter Blood Falcon. No one wants to do that again, quite frankly, I don't either. I want all the prize money."

"What do you plan to do with the one billion credits in prize money, given that you win?"

Chiya clapped her hands together, "Me and my boyfriend, Earl Bendek, the greatest guy in the world and average bodybuilder, will be using it to move to Aeropolis and get m-" she widened her eyes and quickly stopped the word _marriage_ from coming out, realizing that this was live, "Move to Aeropolis, simple…"

Earl was sitting with a few invited guests of F-Zero TV, one punched his arm and smirked.

"You're tapping that?"

Earl raised an eyebrow at him, "Huh?"

"You and Chiya?"

Earl grinned and nodded, "Oh, yeah, I'm her manager and boyfriend…"

The man grinned and crossed his arms, "For a first interview, she sure seems fluent."

Earl smiled, "Yeah, I'm real proud of her…"

"-that Blood Falcon was probably killed in the explosion last year, so I'm just expecting a nice and simple race this year with no fighting."

Mr. Zero nodded, "Another hot topic that has already lit a fire. Princia Ramode, princess of Magica will be competing in this year's race. You are a Mysterian and represent your planet, how about that weight on your shoulder?"

Chiya nodded, "I understand that my people would love to see me, a Mysterian, defeat Princia, a Magican; but I think this should be looked at differently. We shouldn't be enemies just because our two planets don't get along."

"Are you proposing that you should align yourself with Princia?"

Chiya widened her eyes, never having considered this. She rubbed her chin and slightly smirked, "Yeah, maybe that is what I'm saying…"

Neither Chiya nor Earl had considered this, but becoming allied with Princia, the ruler of Magica, could bring some prosperity between the people of Magica and Mysteria. It was a long shot, especially since Chiya had previously infiltrated Princia's palace, but she felt that if she worked hard enough, maybe she could indeed secure a friendship with her.

"So, on the topic of Mysteria; how does it feel being the most admired person on your planet?"

Chiya smiled, "Pretty good! I'm happy that my people love me for who I am, and I'm proud to represent Mysteria in the big league."

"You don't feel some shame that you're representing a planet of evil?"

Chiya glared at him, "I don't think Mysteria is evil…"

Chiya quickly realized why responding like this was likely a bad move. Saying that Mysteria wasn't evil was like someone saying that the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany wasn't evil, something she could think freely about, but probably shouldn't have admitted aloud.

"Hm…" Mr. Zero smirked at her, "So, would you say that you're ready for this year's Grand Prix? Do you need more practice before the first race?"

Chiya brought her hands together, "Nope! I'm ready!" she said enthusiastically.

"You seem very passionate for F-Zero, I respect that." Mr. Zero rubbed his chin and grinned, "You know, I must compliment you, you're handling this very well…"

"Handling what well?"

Mr. Zero waved back at the cameras and chuckled, "Why, of all the people in the universe, you are without a single doubt in my mind, the most watched person in the entire universe right now."

Chiya's eyes immediately widened as she looked at the cameras, "U- universe?"

"That's right; billions of people watch F-Zero TV. Even different species from distant planets are watching right now. But considering you have the entire universe staring at you right now, you seem to be a natural born speaker."

Chiya's legs were now shaking greatly upon hearing this. She had expected that maybe about one million people were watching her, but she hadn't realized that billions would be watching her, including the many who would later watch her online or on reruns. Earl hadn't mentioned this to her, and as she began to panic; everything went wrong with one small accident…

Earl widened his eyes and gasped loudly, everybody else in the room began to grunt in shock at what they were seeing on screen. Earl's eyes instantly began to water as he grasped his face in disbelief.

"Oh, my, God…"

Chiya's legs were shaking out of control, and she no longer appeared to be running the show. Mr. Zero raised an eyebrow at her and put the microphone up to her face.

"Ms. Flower? Are you alright?"

Chiya's mouth dropped in disbelief, her face gushed red, and her pupils turned very small. One of the worst things that could ever happen to someone live on television had just happened to her, and she was beyond shocked and humiliated.

An F-Zero TV producer ran up behind the cameras and began to flail his hand down towards Chiya's legs. Mr. Zero had a confused look, but momentarily looked down at Chiya. He grunted and retreated from her upon discovering something.

"Uh, uh, oh!" he gritted his teeth and tugged on his tie, "W- we'll be back F-Zero fans, after this commercial break, stick around!"

Chiya bit on her lip and closed her eyes tightly with a very red face as a few tears instantly began to roll down her face. Mr. Zero said nothing else to her; he merely began to walk away as a janitor was instantly deployed onto the set.

Much later in the day, Jody was doing a thorough search of Tanaka's room alongside Dr. Stewart. They were now searching for the missing forty cans of beer in each room. Only Jody and Stewart knew about the searching, to ensure that no one would try and hide the evidence, she sent the team off to the Upper City for a night of fun.

Jody lifted up Tanaka's bed sheets and quirked her mouth in frustration, Stewart was checking Tanaka's bathroom drawers.

"This isn't making any sense to me, so far it seems that no one in our team did it; but the only other person with clearance into floor negative zero is the commander," said Jody.

Stewart shrugged, "This is becoming an inconclusive mystery, if I had to guess, I would say that the alcohol has yet to be consumed."

"Really?"

Stewart walked back into Tanaka's room, "Have you checked his drawers near his bed?"

Jody nodded, "Yeah, just found a bunch of photos of me…" Stewart widened his eyes at this, "I'm guessing Tanaka had nothing to do with this, but most of the others didn't have anything in their room; and Mr. EAD doesn't even have a room…"

Stewart hummed and shook negatively, "It wouldn't make much sense for EAD to consume alcohol, it really wouldn't affect him anyways."

"Do you think that some individuals may have broken into floor negative zero?"

"Individuals?"

"Oh, come on, you would need more than just one person to break through such a door."

Stewart hummed and nodded, "This building has over eight-hundred rooms, we can't possibly search them all…"

Jody closed her eyes and nodded, "Perhaps it's time we just let this one go. Either way, everyone now knows that we're looking for the culprit, so it would be foolish to strike again…"

Stewart nodded with a grin, but he slowly forced the grin off and gave her a serious gaze.

"We _did_ go out and buy more last night…"

Jody widened her eyes, "When?"

"While you were asleep, Clash came back with a fresh new twenty pack; Rick and Jack were investigating a case together in Yokohama."

Jody had a nervous look as she quickly turned towards the door, "Come on, let's go downstairs…"

Jody and Stewart had ventured all the way down the fleet of stairs once again, Jody had a very determined look on her face as she moved. Stewart was staring at the cold door of floor negative zero; both expected to find the same thing upon opening the door. They were assuming that the first thing they would find is yet another empty twenty-pack of beer.

Jody breathed in and exhaled as she swiped her Federation card down the door, it unlocked, and she grasped the doorknob. Stewart's eyes were quivering somewhat fearfully; Jody momentarily turned the doorknob and proceeded to open it. Their discovery left both in complete shock, having not expected to find what they did.

"What the Hell!" Jody shouted loudly.

Just as expected, there was yet another empty twenty-pack, but there was something else out of place. Stewart slowly approached the refrigerator that had been left wide open. He looked inside and widened his eyes in shock. The refrigerator was completely empty.

Stewart turned around with widened eyes and shrugged, "Well, now we're minus another twenty-pack, plus a pizza, a pie, a carton of milk, soda, and several fruits and vegetables."

Jody stomped her foot down loudly and grunted, "Impossible! How could one even carry all of this back upstairs without being caught!?"

Stewart walked over to the garbage can and looked inside, he found absolutely nothing.

"…the garbage can was emptied…"

Jody grasped her forehead again and shook negatively, "Impossible!" she narrowed her eyes and growled, "F- fire the janitor, right now!"

"The janitor does not have clearance down here…"

Jody grunted and leaned against the kitchen counter in disbelief, "I- I don't understand…"

"Nor do I…"

The two remained standing together as they looked around the freezing room. The only plausible possibility was that someone had come down and stored everything somewhere, but there was no way one would be able to carry everything up the stairs without a team.

Jody clenched her fists, "Well, sixty beer cans and a fridge full of consumables doesn't quite just disappear. There's clearly nowhere in this room that could hide all of that, so obviously, someone and some partners is doing this…"

Stewart remained silent for a few more moments, but he finally snapped his fingers, "Video footage!"

Jody widened her eyes and beamed, "Hey, yeah!" she spun around and pointed at the ceiling, "If we temporarily install a security camera up on the ceiling centered on the ridge, we can catch the bastard in the act…"

Stewart clapped his hands, "Such a simple idea, but a bulletproof way to solve this mystery…"

Jody patted his back with a grin, "You did it again, Stewart. Now, go up and check out a security camera."

"Now?"

"Yes, I want this hooked up within the hour. Go call the team and tell them to go buy as much beer as they can carry; on me…"

"Bait?"

Jody chuckled deviously and nodded, "Oh, yes. If this sneaky bastard wants beer, we'll give them all they can drink…" she crossed her arms and looked down at the twenty-pack, "I just hope they realize that this will be their last meal…"

Stewart grunted, "Y- you're going to kill the culprit!?"

Jody laughed, "No, don't be silly. But this is good practice; I'll commend the culprit there."

Stewart nodded, "I bet Seppuku could have used his detective skills to figure this out…"

Jody frowned and nodded, "Yeah, good ol' Lieutenant Detective Seppuku…"

Chiya was now on her bed crying into her pillow, she was lying on her belly and was only in her nightgown. She had spent the rest of her day crying into her pillow after such a humiliating moment on F-Zero TV. She knew that the universe would be playing back the video of her to laugh at. Life was very bad for Chiya right now, and she felt that because of one simple screw up, her public life would come to an end.

Earl slowly opened her door with a frown on his face. Chiya had skipped making dinner and remained in bed the entire day. He wasn't prepared to complain about missing dinner, as he was forced to feel sympathetic for her. Chiya appeared mostly worn out at this point, but was still sobbing into her pillow.

Earl sighed and rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Chiya…"

Chiya grabbed the pillow and hid her face completely, "Go away, Earl, this is all your fault…"

Earl glared at her, but quickly brushed off the offensive comment, "I know what you're going through right now, this can't be easy to get over…"

Chiya grasped her pillow more tightly, "You made me go there! You told me that everything was going to be okay, that I was going to come out that door happy!" Earl frowned and glanced away from her, "I came out that door in tears! You promised that everything was going to be okay and it wasn't! My life is ruined because of you!"

Earl rubbed his shoulder and lowered his eyebrows, "Now, Chiya…"

She sighed loudly and shook negatively; she momentarily turned her head and simply rested it against her pillow with streaming eyes. She sighed and began to water up more as she looked over at him.

"I've decided that I'm retiring…"

Earl widened his eyes, "Retiring!?"

Chiya slightly nodded, "I can't race anymore, I would be the laughing stock of the track…"

"Actually, I'm pretty much Zoda is the laughing stock, but Chiya, you can't let this defeat you!"

Chiya had a quivering frown, "It already has…"

Earl climbed up onto the bed with her and got on his knees; Chiya glanced at him for a moment, but then resumed whimpering into her pillow. He climbed over her and put his hands on her bare shoulders, he proceeded to stroke them gently.

"Come on, so you tinkled on stage; at least you didn't…" he lowered his eyebrows, "Make the other _business_…"

"People will laugh at me, find me disgusting, a little girl," Chiya clenched her fists and growled, "I don't even know what happened! Only babies pee their pants!"

"Mr. Zero scared you, that was all his fault. His comments were unnecessary and quite frankly, I think he might have been intentionally trying to scare you…"

Chiya frowned at him, "Why would Mr. Zero want to see me pee?"

Earl closed his eyes with an awkward grin, "Uh, well, he probably didn't think you would do _that_…"

Chiya lowered her eyelids and sighed, "I can't race, no one is going to like me anymore…"

"That's not true! Everybody loves you, Chiya!" Chiya raised a sad eyebrow at him, "Chiya, no offense, but people are going to find what you did funny, not disgusting. Sure, that video will be replayed over and over again, but only for laughs…" he lowered his eyebrows and grunted, "…and possibly oddballs with piss fetishes…"

"But it wasn't funny!"

Earl took his hands off of her shoulders and grabbed her hand, "Chiya, understandably it isn't funny to you, nor me, but let me promise you something…" Chiya looked deeply into his eyes, "Twenty years later, you'll have won the Grand Prix many times, and you'll be brought back on stage to be interviewed…" Chiya gasped at this, "But let me promise- _swear_ to you, Chiya; one of those interviews, they will pull up that footage of you wetting yourself, and you know what you're going to do?"

Chiya felt a warm stream go down her eyes, "…cry…"

"You'll laugh."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "What?"

"Twenty years from now, you'll look back on this day and find your accident hilarious and cute. You'll still have a strong fan base, me, and all of the money in the world. But I assure you, when you see that video, it will be a simple joke to you."

Chiya had an intrigued look by now, but she was still lying on her belly, "How do you know?"

Earl dipped his head down and grinned nervously, "Well…"

"Did you pee yourself?"

Earl chuckled and shook negatively, "Not exactly…" he exhaled loudly and proceeded to lie on top of Chiya, she widened her eyes as he did this. He got up to her ear and smirked, "When I was in high school, I had gotten done with gym and hit the shower."

Chiya had a perverse smile as she imagined this, "O-oh..!"

"I scrubbed myself down, washed off the soap, and went out the door."

Chiya was still smiling intensely, "-and you were nude?"

"Yes," Earl exhaled with an embarrassed smile, "I meant to go back into my section of the locker room, but instead, I accidentally went through the _Janitors Only_ door. Do you know where this took me?"

"Oh God! The custodian saw you naked!?"

"Worse…" Earl face palmed and chuckled, "The door was a shortcut into the _other_ locker room…" Chiya widened her eyes at him as he began to glow red, "I, uh, walked right into that locker room, completely naked, and that, was when I smelled the perfume…"

Chiya raised an eyebrow, then gasped and giggled, "Oh my God..!"

"Yep, walked right into the middle of that locker room, exposed, and of course, I encountered about thirty of my female classmates…"

"Oh God, how embarrassing!"

Earl closed his eyes and hummed in agreement, "Woulda' been nice if I at least had some bubbles _down there_ to cover myself with; but no, everybody saw my…" he cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head, "Well, long story short, I went the rest of my high school life with that over my shoulder. Fortunately, despite this, I still ended up with many girlfriends, and by senior year, this was just a really hilarious story to talk about…"

Chiya rubbed her chin and quirked her mouth, "So-o, you're not disgusted that I soaked myself on stage?"

Earl shook negatively, "Of course not, you just hadn't used the bathroom before such an experience. Some people vomit under pressure, some faint, and I guess in your case…" he shrugged with a grin, "_Release_ yourself when really scared…"

Chiya smiled at him and nodded, "I- I haven't done that since I was a little kid though, I wouldn't worry about me doing it again…" she bit on her finger nervously, "…I just hope it doesn't happen one day if something _enters my area_…"

"So you'll race?"

Chiya sighed and slowly nodded, "You bet!"

Earl stopped lying on her and prepared to get up, "Can I help you at all before I go to bed, then?"

Chiya widened her eyes and proceeded to nervously lower her eyebrows, "Um-m…" Earl raised an eyebrow at her, she bit on her lip with somewhat of a turned on expression, "I, u-uh…" Earl grasped her shoulders again with a raised eyebrow, wondering what Chiya was hesitating to ask of him, she widened her eyes as she felt his fingers touch her skin, "Um, c- could you- u-uh, I liked when you we-ere…"

Earl had a nervous look on his face; he knew that her question was going to be something interesting. As fearful as he was of impregnating her, Earl was prepared to do _anything_ that she may ask of him to do for her. Ultimately, he was fairly scared to have relations with Chiya, as he feared he would do something wrong or be laughed at for having a below-average sized genitalia.

Chiya swallowed nervously and opened her eyes again, "Could you give me a back massage..?"

Earl widened his eyes, but nodded affirmatively, "You like when I massage your shoulders?"

Chiya blushed and nodded, "Yes! I do, and I would like the full package…" she widened her eyes and grunted, "I- I mean, I would like to see you work my back as well, with lotion..."

Earl looked down at her back and gritted his teeth frightfully, "Uh, you know, I can't really use lotion if, you know…" he softly tugged on her gown with quivering eyes.

"Yeah, I know…"

Earl silently gasped as Chiya lifted herself slightly and pulled down her straps. Her gown fell to her waist and she momentarily fell back down onto her belly, now completely topless. Earl felt as if his heart was beating very rapidly, knowing that Chiya's bare chest was completely exposed in front of him. But he had no intentions of touching her chest or even turning her around. He would proceed with the back massage as asked of him.

Chiya had a red face and was very nervous. In all actuality, she was hoping that Earl would let his hormones get the best of him and take advantage of the moment. Both Earl and Chiya were afraid of sex, but both desired to perform this activity on each other at some point. Chiya was just slightly more determined because she wanted children. Of course, Earl taking advantage of the moment was what she was only hoping for, she truly did just want a simple back massage.

"Lotion?"

"On the table."

Earl got off of the bed and walked over to her table, Mauser was sitting silently beside her box of ammo and bottle of skin lotion. Earl grabbed the lotion and turned back around, but he was instantly presented with an overly shocking sight. While he couldn't see her nipple, he could see her right breast pressed down against the bed. Despite how mature of a person Earl was, he had fallen victim at the sight of this. Earl was only aroused because this was Chiya's breast, the woman of his dreams. This was only making him want to see more of her.

"Did you find it?"

Earl widened his eyes and looked away from Chiya with a red face, "Y- yeah…"

He walked back up behind Chiya with a glowing red face, it was too late, his head was already flowing with questions about Chiya's chest. He hadn't seen anything that one wouldn't find on any ordinary girl at a beach, but it was rare for him to see Chiya without a top.

Earl crawled behind her again, Chiya still had a sad look because of the F-Zero TV incidence, but she was willing to let Earl try and make her feel better. He exhaled and rubbed some of the lotion on his hands while looking at her smooth back. His eyes were quivering in amazement at the ridiculously baby-smooth skin she had. Her back was completely void of pimples, moles, or scars.

"You have amazing skin, Chiya."

She faintly smiled and nodded, "My whole family does."

Almost anxiously, Earl slapped his hands down on her back and proceeded to rub her down. His heart began to beat as he pushed Chiya's skin around like dough; he didn't seem to mind that Chiya had gained a few more pounds over the months.

Chiya lowered her eyelids with taken back puckered lips; she softly began to make purring sounds as Earl massaged her. Earl raised an eyebrow nervously at her and smirked.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing…"

Earl began to rub the lower part of her back, which was only making her more-and-more prepared to request that he removes her gown. Passion was overcoming both Chiya and Earl, with Chiya desiring sex, and Earl's arousal escalating; it was only a matter of time before Earl's hands would move to her belly.

Chiya tightly closed her eyes, hardly able to hold it in anymore; she shot open her eyes with a red face.

"Y- you should take your shirt off!" she instantly closed her eyes tightly, feeling that she said something very absurd, "I mean, if you want; I don't want you getting lotion on your shirt."

To her surprise, without question, Earl removed his shirt and now began to do something different; he began to massage her with his arms. Chiya had widened eyes and a very perverse look on her face, clearly getting pleasure out of this. Earl had a look of excitement on his face, but he was ultimately scared.

Chiya now found that her entire back was being massaged by his arms, and her shoulders were being softly stroked. With Earl having taken off his shirt, Chiya realized the truth. For the moment, Earl was her slave…

Finally, Chiya's heart was fighting the urge to simply dive into action by flipping onto her back. This would completely expose her chest to him and be a clear invitation for relations. As much as Chiya wanted to, she found that she was legitimately very relaxed by the backrub; and this is what crushed Chiya's sudden desire for sex. Within a few more seconds, Chiya closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Earl would continue massaging her for another five minutes, before ultimately, falling asleep himself…

To be continued…


	7. Lap 6

==Lap 6=

A night of humiliation, sorrow, and romance had passed. As expected, Chiya's live _accident_ was the center of attention in the media. People shared the video, news sites replayed the video, and even online memes were starting. It had only been about half a day since this had occurred, and already her mishap was going viral. Ironically, the only famous network that wasn't further humiliating Chiya, was F-Zero TV. They mentioned the incident many times, but were much more centered on her actual interview. There was merely one place in the universe that was censoring this clip and punishing anyone who shared it; this was Mysteria.

Chiya had a soft look on her face as she slept, it was now early in the afternoon, but something immediately felt wrong. She could tell that her room was lit up, along with this, she was cold. Chiya was shivering constantly and rubbing her shoulders as she was only just slightly waking up. _Blimey, why am I so cold..?_ Chiya crossed her arms, but immediately rubbed against two fairly sharp parts of her body…

She widened her eyes and gasped, quickly covering her palms over her breasts. She rolled onto her back with a surprised look as she found that she still had her nightgown pulled down to her waist. She rolled onto her back while still covering her breasts and momentarily lifted her palms slightly in shock. She got a cute smirk and blushed as she looked down at her own bare chest.

"If I didn't know any better, I woulda' thought that I had two icicles on my breasts…"

She moved her hands down to her waist and glanced over to her left after exhaling playfully, but what she found next greatly disturbed her. She nearly screamed and covered up her breasts again; it was Earl.

Her eyes were quivering greatly as she stared down at him; fortunately, he appeared to be in a deep slumber and likely hadn't seen Chiya bare-chested. She grasped her forehead and exhaled very loudly in relief. Without further hesitation, she pulled up her nightgown and put the straps back over her shoulders. The next thing that confused Chiya was that Earl had no shirt on. She continued to stare at him for several moments in utter confusion, as if she had no memory of the previous night.

Chiya gasped and covered her mouth, "Oh, God! D- did we _play_ last night..!?" she muttered in fright.

After staring at Earl for a few more moments, memories came flushing back into her head. She exhaled in relief, now relieved that the two hadn't had sex. She looked down at her hands in disbelief, somewhat disgusted at how perverted she was being the previous night before falling asleep. She knew that if she hadn't fallen asleep, she would have pushed him into having sex with her, if not simply pleasuring her. This was certainly not the kind of person she would like to be looked at as.

"Bloody Hell, I think Dark Rose rubbed off on me a bit, eh?"

Chiya sat up and crossed her feet together, she gazed at her unpainted toenails and quirked her mouth, still shocked that she had come so close to having relations with Earl. She did desire to do this with him, but she wanted her first time to be more romantic than that. Having sex just because she was sad about being humiliated on television wouldn't be very romantic to her.

Chiya puckered her lips and brought her hands together as she stared at Earl, "Hm-m…"

She came to the sudden realization that she had awoken before him, something she could only do ¼ of the time. She smiled and softly chuckled to herself. She quietly got off of the bed and walked towards her clothing. She grabbed her pink panties off of the ground and looked over at Earl, who was still sleeping soundly. She smiled at him and pulled the undergarments up her gown; afterwards, she threw off the gown and hooked her bra back on. Lastly, Chiya put on her socks and shirt and then proceeded to leave her room.

Chiya was minutes later in the kitchen sitting on the counter, she was making coffee for the two; a surprise that she would present Earl with. She kicked her feet back and forth as she peacefully waited for the coffee to finish. In this day and age, coffee could be prepared much faster and more efficiently.

She widened her eyes and jolted up at the loud sound of something. She grasped her forehead and lowered her eyebrows in utter confusion.

"Thunder?"

Indeed, it was thundering outside, and a very heavy rainfall was flooding the streets. This was strange primarily because it was December; the temperature was unusually content considering Christmas was days away.

Chiya rubbed her chin and hummed with a raised eyebrow as she listened to the rain slam against the roof very roughly. Ultimately, Chiya just regarded this as a very rare occurrence and looked back down at the coffee. She was staring into the dark brown liquid intensely, just slightly seeing her reflection in the ripples of the coffee.

She sighed and got off of the counter, momentarily leaving the kitchen. She left the door open and raised her eyebrows as the rain sounded much louder, part of her wanted to watch the weather channel, but she didn't want to wake Earl. She walked down the hallway towards the lobby as the loud sound of thunder continued to surround her. She opened the door and gazed into the dark lobby with an almost hypnotized look, as if she were being told by someone to enter the room. She turned on the light and scanned the room slowly.

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "I feel like…"

She slowly turned her head towards the display cases, which contained two bronze Grand Prix trophies, Federation medals, a damaged Blood Falcon helmet, and Seppuku's fedora. She quirked her mouth and approached the display cases slowly; she took no steps; rather she was sliding towards the cases.

"I feel like someone's telling me to come here…"

She put her hands on the glass and looked down at Seppuku's fedora with an intense gaze. Her eyes were quivering at the black and red banded hat; this was the Christmas present she had gotten Seppuku, but in the end, he dropped it while being dragged away by the Federation.

She lifted the glass up and quickly lifted the fedora up with a quirked mouth. She stared at the hat with the utmost concentration, but her eyes were slowly dilating as she did this. She grunted and gritted her teeth as it seemed that all of existence was suddenly leaving her, for a few moments, all she could see was her hands and the hat; nothing else. As she continued to stare at this, a figure was being forced into her mind.

Chiya silently gasped, against her will, the faint image of a naked Dark Rose was flailing her hands with a very panicked look. Chiya gritted her teeth, wondering if she were insane, but couldn't get a grasp on reality again. The last thing she saw was Rose swished her hands away from her, as if this imaginative figure was trying to warn her of something.

Dark Rose disappeared, Chiya blinked once and grunted as she continued to stare at the hat. Her concentration was broken as thunder had become lightning. Chiya slowly set the hat back in its case while trembling in shock.

"Something bad is going to happen today, isn't it Rose..?"

Regardless of the already strange morning she was having, she came walking back into her room with two cups of coffee now in her hands. She smiled at the sight of Earl lying in the exact same position; what she wanted to know was if he had fallen asleep or actually wanted to sleep with her. She wasn't bothered that Earl slept with her topless, as long as he hadn't gotten to see his chest. Chiya's general rule was simple; if he gets to see one of her private areas, she gets to see his. However, she didn't find it fair that she would show him her breasts merely because he took off his shirt. If Earl ever took off his bottoms, Chiya would show him both her chest and bottom area.

Earl lowered his eyebrows and began to twitch as Chiya got back in bed with the coffee. She very carefully crawled towards him and slowly moved the cup under his nose. She smiled and began to rub Earl's shoulder with her other hand as she waved the coffee around his nose. Earl slightly shrugged, and his eyelids began to quiver slightly as he seemed to be waking up.

"Good afternoon, Earlie'…"

Earl smirked with his eyes still shut and nodded, "…what am I smelling right now..?"

"Open your eyes and find out!"

He quirked his mouth and tried to, but was having difficulty doing so. He groaned and grasped his face; Chiya momentarily took her hand off of his shoulders and forced his eyelids open. Earl groaned again and looked down slightly; he smiled at the sight of coffee.

"Wow, Chiya, this is new…"

"However, I was still thinking that we could go to Bart's Café in a little bit, see if he ever figured something out for us."

Earl flipped onto his back and began to flex and stretch, Chiya's smile remained the same, but her eyes widened in amazement as he stared at his chest pull. She bit on her finger and began to instantly fall victim for his muscles. Earl prepared to drink his coffee as he stretched, but grunted as Chiya had forced herself down onto his chest. He widened his eyes and grunted as she instantly began to rub on his chest.

Earl chuckled loudly and pushed her off of him, "Okay, alright, enough of that…"

Chiya frowned and dipped her head down, "Okay…"

He combed his hair down with his fingers and looked around the room; he had only just realized where he was.

"Did I really fall asleep right in your bed?"

Chiya nodded with a grin, "Yep, you missed out too, because my chest was completely exposed all night and all morning; you coulda' easily got away with snapping some photos."

Earl grunted and shook negatively, "I'd never do that!"

"Really?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and dipped his head down, "Not without your consent…"

Chiya slightly blushed and dipped her head down, "Well, if you-"

"Boy! Where is that damn shirt?" he said quickly to change the subject.

Chiya handed him his white shirt and crossed her legs together. Earl put his shirt on and quickly grabbed his leather jacket, but then something even more awkward happened. The vibrator Earl had hid in his jacket fell out. Chiya and Earl both gasped at this, but Chiya quickly looked up and beamed.

"Aha! So you were just keeping the back massager for yourself!"

Earl had indeed washed this, but he had merely forgotten to hide this in his room. The only reason he kept this toy was in case he screwed up during relations with Chiya, in which case, this would provide him with an emergency last resort to pleasuring her. Unfortunately for Earl, he was quite cornered right now.

"U-uh, yeah, I washed it…"

Chiya turned it on with a smile and began to stroke her back with it, she exhaled in comfort as she did this. Earl had a disturbed look on his face, but quickly came to the realization that this was okay. Chiya didn't know what this actually was, and she didn't have to, as long as she kept it out of sight from the public.

"Alright, you can keep it in your room then," Chiya beamed at him, "But don't use that out in public, it just looks weird."

Chiya nodded, "Okay then!"

Earl quirked his mouth and looked up at the ceiling, "I- is it raining?"

The two were suddenly startled at the sound of loud lightning; Chiya closed her eyes and nodded, "It's a little more than just rain…"

Earl finished his coffee and set is beside her lamp, he sat on the edge of her bed and quickly pecked her cheek.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in your bed; the reason I didn't wake up before you is that this thing is just so comfy."

Chiya smirked at him, "Just hang in there, not long from now you'll get to sleep on this bed every day!"

Earl let out a whistle, "Yeah, I won't miss my bed at the slightest…"

The two remained silently sitting together on the bed, Earl lowered his eyebrows and quirked his mouth. He grabbed the remote and turned on the television—but alas, there was no reception. The two got very confused looks on their faces, especially Earl.

"Odd…"

Chiya shrugged, "We could go check in at the café, maybe Bart can give us the details."

Earl sighed and nodded, "I'm going to be completely soaked by the time we get there," he glanced at her and raised his eyebrows after sighing, "Can you drive fast?"

Chiya smirked at him and punched his arm, "Hey, you're talking to the woman who practically won the Grand Prix!"

Jody stood in her office with a serious look on her face. She was staring out the large glass window behind her as rain hit flew right towards the building. She initially thought that they may be having a hurricane, but this was immediately ruled out as she read the weather report. Mute City was simply having strangely timed rainfall.

She continued to stare at the water that ran down the window, amazed by the bright lightning she was seeing around her. Very black clouds were approaching the city from Korea, so she knew that the worst had yet to come. What was especially frightening for most of the Federation was that a Mute City lightning rod was above the tower.

She turned around and let out a tired yawn as she returned to her paperwork. She was having yet another very uneventful day, her job had become much easier without the gang war that raged on in the Lower City two years ago. During the gang war, she would receive many calls within the hour. With weather like this, she could assume that no criminal was going to cause mayhem on the streets.

"I bet this rain would even piss Black Shadow off…" she muttered aloud to herself.

At that moment, Stewart forced himself through the door with a panicked look. Jody responded by grunting, as seeing Stewart panicked was never a good thing.

"Stewart?"

"It's offline!"

"What's offline?"

Stewart slammed his fists down and pointed at the door, "The camera, it's offline!"

She widened her eyes and gasped, "No way, the camera we just set up in floor negative zero?"

"Yes, we had live feed all day, but now it's offline."

Jody rubbed her chin, "Might it have been because of the weather?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Jody, something happened to it…"

"Okay, okay, let's not get worked up, it was probably just a simple technical error…" she closed her eyes and shrugged, "Or maybe it just fell, I don't think we secured it to the ceiling very well…"

Stewart grabbed her hand; Jody grunted and looked up at him, "Jody, we should get down there quickly…"

Jody continued to stare at him, "Doctor, I can't just leave my post-"

"No one is going to call us, Jody."

She quirked her mouth as she contemplated, but ultimately she nodded and stood up.

The two ventured down the fleet of stairs once again, and as always, Jody was expecting to see some bad result. After buying three twenty-packs of beer, Jody would be beyond surprised if everything was already missing. Stewart had a frustrated look on his face, clearly finding something more serious about this than Jody.

The two could no longer hear the rain and lightning, as they were far below the ground. Jody raised an eyebrow as she walked alongside Stewart.

"So this is just a natural storm?"

Stewart nodded, "Very odd though, there was no predictions that it would storm, let alone rain."

"God's just playing with us I guess…"

The two took their final steps towards floor negative zero, Jody had a fairly frightened look on her face as she stared at the cold door. Stewart approached it and turned towards Jody, she pulled her card up and gritted her teeth nervously. She swiped the card down the door and exhaled as she slowly opened it. Upon turning on the light, she gasped.

"O- oh my God!"

Two twenty-packs were now missing, there was only one left on the ground, but it appeared to have been ripped open. Jody pushed Tanaka aside and growled in rage as she ran up to the lone beer pack. She grabbed it and gasped as she shook it around, there were only four cans left inside.

She dropped the beer on the ground and shouted in rage, "Who the Hell do I need to fire!?"

Stewart had an overly disturbed look as he knelt near the corner of the room, Jody momentarily turned towards him with a burning look of rage.

"What are you looking at?"

She gasped after initially finding what the problem was—the camera was no longer on the ceiling, it was on the floor. Jody knelt down beside Stewart and gasped with widened eyes.

"N- no-o…" she muttered in disbelief.

The camera was destroyed. Fragments of the lens remained on the ground, the base of the camera appeared torn open, and the wiring was completely ripped. What really surprised her, however, was that the integrated circuits were lying on the ground in very small ripped pieces. Someone clearly understood how to properly destroy a security camera.

Stewart shook in disbelief, "You realize that we're going to be charged for this, right?"

Jody glared at the camera after hearing this, "N- no! I've already paid for literally one-hundred and twenty cans of beer, plus all of the snacks that were in that fridge," she clenched her fists and tightly grinded her teeth, "Whoever is doing this will pay for the beer, camera, food, a fine, and finally, I'll slam that sucker in prison!"

Stewart quirked his mouth and observed the tears done to the base, "These tears…" he very closely observed the sharply cut tears, "Whoever did this used something sharp…"

Jody stomped her foot down and crossed her arms, "This ends here!" she spun around towards the door and crossed her arms, "Stewart, prepare _everybody_ for an emergency meeting in the assembly."

Stewart nodded, "Even the custodians and clerks?"

Jody stomped her foot down so powerfully, that a double echo followed.

"Everybody!"

Chiya and Earl both rushed inside of the café completely soaked, they were both panting heavily. Earl had been sitting on the outside of the _Purring Kitten_ the entire time and even Chiya appeared just as wet. Bart raised an eyebrow at the two and slowly smirked.

"Want an umbrella?"

Earl and Chiya both stopped to glare at him; Bart shrugged with a sneaky grin. The two momentarily sat down in their usual spots as water continued to drip from their hair. Bart raised an eyebrow as the water dripping from Chiya's face was very dark looking.

"Ms. Flower, your mascara appears to be running…"

Chiya returned a hostile glance and quirked her mouth, "Yeah."

Bart held his waist and rubbed his head, "Alright, I'll stop offending now…"

"Bart, what the Hell is up with this weather?" asked Earl.

"Surprise winter rainfall, no one saw this coming."

Chiya wiped her running makeup aside, "What do you mean? What did the meteorologist say?"

Bart spun around and turned on the television while humming, but unfortunately, he tuned into the wrong channel at the wrong time…

"Coming up at seven! We take a look into Chiya Flower's interview and discuss whether we need to slap a diaper onto-"

Bart changed the channel quickly and turned his head away from Chiya. Chiya's eyes were instantly watering, but she remained strong none-the-less. Earl was also looking away from Chiya, but he momentarily turned towards her and fake smiled.

Bart leaned against the counter and turned up the volume.

"-utmost confidence that this weather will have cleared up by tomorrow morning. No weather stations had detected such weather showing up, leading many experts to believe that there may be something supernatural behind this occurrence…"

Chiya gasped, "…Black Shadow…"

Earl and Bart both glanced at her, Bart rubbed his chin and shrugged, "Black Shadow hasn't shown his face anywhere in months."

"Yeah, so it would be a better time than ever to attack us!"

Earl nodded in agreement, "Could be, his ship _did_ disappear after that battle with only major damage…"

"Was a weather controller a part of his master plan?" asked Bart.

"Not that I heard of, but I'm sure that he could use this to his advantage in some way…"

Bart swished his hand at the two, "This isn't Black Shadow. If it were a weather device, there wouldn't be a prediction of when it will go away so fast."

Chiya nodded, "True…"

Earl sighed, "Black Shadow returning would be a calamity. It would all be up to Captain Falcon now that Seppuku's gone…"

Bart grinned at Chiya, "Captain Falcon announced on F-Zero TV that he is all set for the Grand Prix."

Chiya sighed and dipped her head down, "I don't wanna' talk about F-Zero TV…"

Earl and Bart both frowned at her, Bart put his hand on her and shook negatively with a grin.

"It's okay, Chiya, this will fly over soon…" he crossed his arms and smirked, "Because let me tell you something, one day you'll see that embarrassing clip again, and you-"

"Earl already told me that."

Bart widened his eyes, "Huh?"

"Earl says that in a few years I'll look back at this as a funny moment of my life."

Earl nodded, "That I did."

Bart quirked his mouth and shrugged, "Oh, uh, well, good job…"

Chiya puckered her lips, "Then Earl gave me a back massage!"

"Oh, well how nice of him."

Chiya nodded, "I think he shoulda' used the magic pickle on me."

Earl widened his eyes; Bart raised an eyebrow, "Magic pickle?"

Earl spun around and gasped, preparing to grab her mouth, "Yeah! It's a green plastic toy pickle that vibrates-"

She widened her eyes as Earl covered her mouth; Bart was twitching intensely at this. Earl swished his head towards Bart with a red face.

"I- it's not what you- not what you think, see, it's a back massager…"

Bart rubbed the back of his head and slowly nodded, "…what would my life be without you two..?"

Later on, Jody slammed her fists down on a podium in fury.

"Officers of the Federation! I have called you all here today to bring forth an escalating situation," she narrowed her eyes, "Someone has been consistently stealing from floor negative zero and this is going to stop today…"

The assembly room was full of Federation officers that reside in the HQ, every single employee was present. Jody's team stood near the front of the assembly.

"I was being fairly lenient at first when I discovered that some of the beer we were buying kept going missing, but the severity of this situation is escalating fast and must be addressed immediately," she pointed at the crowd, "Not only is stealing a felony, but this person has destroyed a high-tech camera, broke into a restricted floor, and has resisted arrest."

Jody turned around and pointed at a white screen behind her, which momentarily displayed a graphic image of a new security system.

"I didn't want to do this, but clearly it has gotten to that point. Tomorrow, we will be installing a siren to the door, that way, I can stop whoever is trying to be funny…" she crossed her arms and quirked her mouth, "Obviously, there's no point turning yourself in at this point. The best thing you could do is knock it off and leave this be, at least then you might get away with this. If you continue to steal, you'll be caught eventually. You're already in deep, no need to get yourself in deeper trouble…"

Tanaka raised his hand, "Why are we spending all of this money on a new security door, when we could hire guards?"

"Because, I'm not hiring guards to protect beer. That would be ridiculous…"

Jack quirked his mouth, "Yeah, but why not just put the beer somewhere else? Like your office?"

Jody sighed, "You're missing the point. This isn't about beer, this is about privacy and security; how long do we have before this same person starts sneaking into our rooms to take expensive possessions?"

Rick hummed, "I don't want my privacy invaded…"

"Exactly! This person could be some pervert looking to score some undergarments, does that sound very good?"

The crowd instantly began to converse over this matter, Jody looked around the room with a quirked mouth. Everyone was talking to one another at this point. Jody nodded and stepped off of the stage, and went walking towards the door. Despite how serious she felt this situation was, Jody had paperwork to do.

It was now evening, Chiya and Earl returned to the base and were once again enjoying dinner together. Earl was greatly enjoying the meal Chiya had prepared for the two, but he couldn't help but feel a bit awkward as Chiya sat silently with a sad look. He wasn't sure what she could possibly be upset about, as she seemed fairly happy before they left for the café. He was assuming that her sudden decline in happiness was relevant to their visit to the café.

"Something wrong?"

Chiya looked up at him and forced a smile, "No, I'm happy…" Earl continued to stare at her with a smirk, which was telling her that he didn't believe this. She sighed and dipped her head down, "It's what happened at the café…"

Earl clapped his hands together and grinned, "You don't need mascara, Chiya, I could kiss you-"

"No, not my makeup…"

"Then what's wrong?"

Her eyes began to water as she dipped her head down, "That one channel, it was making fun of me…"

Earl had a puzzled look, but he momentarily understood, "Oh, well, yeah; networks are run by real bastards."

"They said I should wear a diaper…"

"No, no, no, that was just a joke. Anyone who actually believes that you wet yourself commonly is an idiot."

"But people are going to start believing that I wear diapers!"

Earl chuckled and shook negatively, "Maybe they'll make a new baby diaper brand named after you," he joked.

"Earl!"

"I- I'm kidding, nobody believes that you wear a diaper." Chiya sighed and closed her eyes, Earl chewed on his food and shrugged at her, "We already went through this last night, one day, you'll laugh at this. For now, let's just focus on your career as a racer."

Chiya rubbed her chin and quirked her mouth, "On Big Blue, can we pee into the ocean?"

Earl widened his eyes and glanced away from her, "Come on, let's talk about something less disgusting…"

"Pee isn't disgusting; it's ninety-five percent water."

"A hundred percent of which comes out of the private area."

"Why does that gross you out?"

Earl glared at her, "Why wouldn't it?"

"I thought guys liked to get inside of-"

Earl slammed his hands down and closed his eyes with a perverse grin, "Anyways…"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and twirled her foot around in small circles, "So-o, you were doing something nice for me last night, how about I do something for you tonight!"

"You brought me coffee and let me sleep in your bed, I'm good."

Chiya got an offended look, "That wasn't a gift, that was me being a girlfriend."

Earl shook negatively, "I'm fine, I just want to eat, take a shower, and go to bed."

Chiya nodded at him, she momentarily widened her eyes and beamed, "We should bathe together!"

Earl nearly choked on his food upon hearing this, "W- what?"

"Yeah, we could wear our swimming suits."

Earl lowered his eyebrows at her, "You and me, get in the tub together?"

"Well, yeah, why not?"

Earl rubbed his forehead, "I just- I mean, how would that work? We're both adults, we'd have to cross legs or something…"

"Yeah, why not?"

Earl blinked at her a few times, "…huh…"

"We could just relax in bubbly hot water and talk about stuff, it'd be fun!"

Earl gritted his teeth and rubbed his chin. Chiya was seriously proposing simply sitting around in the tub talking to him in relaxing hot water, but of course, half of her was also simply wanting to see if this would persuade Earl to have sex. Regardless, Chiya loved hot water and greatly admired Earl, two things that would have good chemistry.

Earl smiled at her and shook negatively, "How about we just go swimming tomorrow."

Chiya gasped and instantly kicked the bath idea aside, "Really!?"

"Yeah, then we can go in a hot tub instead."

Chiya slammed her hands down on the table and beamed heavily, "Oh my Gosh, thank you, Earl! I've been wanting to go swimming for so long now, but Seppuku would never-"

"T- that's fine, Chiya, we'll go swimming tomorrow."

Chiya was bouncing in her chair excitedly, "Finish up eating so we can sleep, God dammit!"

Earl did just that, he concluded his meal and threw his napkin over the plate. He stood up and bowed to her playfully.

"My compliments to the-"

"Yeah, yeah, shut up and get in that shower so you can get to bed!"

Earl smirked at her and nodded, "Alright, good-night, Chiya…"

Chiya wiggled her fingers at him with a very heartwarmed smile. Earl shut the door behind him and proceeded towards the bathroom. Chiya lowered her eyelids with the same dreamy smile as she began to fantasize about how swimming alone with Earl would go.

Hours later, it was far past midnight and Jody was brushing her teeth after a stressful day of work. She was looking into the eyes of her reflection as she brushed, she spat into the sink and wiped her mouth. She washed the brush and set it down.

"Thank God today's over…"

Jody turned off the light and began walking towards her door. She was unzipping her outfit as she moved, as she wore pajamas to sleep. Right before she removed the jacket portion of her outfit, something greatly alarmed her. Followed by the loud cracking of lightning outside, her phone began to ring…

She widened her eyes and turned around with a pestered look, "Oh, honestly, who the Hell is calling me at this time of the night…"

Jody got off work officially at 10 PM, but she wouldn't officially retire into bed until 12 AM. This call was strange, because all calls after 10 PM would normally be sent over to one of the nightshift officers, not Jody.

The lightning and rain was much more violent now, she walked into her office and turned on the light. She stopped and stared at her phone as it continued to ring, something seemed very wrong.

"But, the only person who could call me at this time of the night…" she raised her eyebrows in shock, "-is someone from inside the building…"

Without further hesitation, she walked around her desk and grasped the phone; she had an intense stare as she looked at the caller ID; it read: _Floor Negative Nine Phone_.

She slowly brought the phone up to her face with a very confused and somewhat startled expression, "Hello..?"

No initial response was given, but she could tell that someone was indeed on the phone with her. She waited a few more seconds before narrowing her eyes angrily.

"Is this a prank call?"

"Hello, Jody…" Jody widened her eyes at the unfamiliar voice.

The voice was unrecognizable to her, but she knew that it was a fake voice; a fairly dark sounding fake voice.

"Who is this? Who am I talking to?"

The man chuckled softly, Jody lowered her eyebrows as she listened to the chuckling. She waited patiently for the dramatic laughter to stop. A very loud lightning bolt cracked through the sky as the man stopped chuckling.

"Oh, who I am shouldn't concern you. I'm just calling to inform you that I will be checking out of this lovely resort now…"

Jody grunted and shook negatively, "Lovely resort?"

"The free beer was nice, the snacks were very luxurious, but I wasn't very comfortable with my room; and might I add, the room service was very nosey, setting up security cameras…"

Jody clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes, "Is this some kind of joke?" she grunted and slammed her fist down, "Wait, you've been stealing all of our things and destroying our things!?"

"To be fair, Ms. Summer, I only destroyed _a_ thing," Jody grinded her teeth while growling in fury, "It's okay, I understand that you can be stupid at times…"

She slammed her fists down, "Who are you!?"

The man chuckled again somewhat maniacally, Jody looked back down at the caller ID and lowered her eyebrows.

"Wait, floor negative nine? How did you get in there?" she rubbed her chin and lowered her eyebrows, "Only members of my team can get in there…"

"Hm-m, sure sounds like you could use a Lieutenant Detective right about now. You're clearly struggling to solve this simple mystery…"

Jody gasped loudly, she knew that the man was referring to Seppuku. Once again, Jody slammed her fists down; her fists struck the desk along with the lightning strike.

"I ask again, who are you!?"

"I would love to stay and chat, but I'm actually in quite the hurry and must be checking out now. Good-bye-"

Jody narrowed her eyes, "Not so fast! You realize that I know of your location? In a matter of seconds I'll have everybody charging down there to comprehend you in floor negative nine. There's nowhere to hide…"

The man chuckled loudly at her threat, "But, Jody, you seem to forget where I am right now…"

"Floor negative nine…"

"Which is..?"

Jody thought about this for a few moments, she suddenly gasped and widened her eyes, "T- the control room?"

"As I said, I'll be checking out now. Don't bother trying to comprehend me, I'll be gone in a matter of seconds…"

Jody grabbed a folder off of her desk and threw it down loudly, "Listen you! You don't know who you're messing with..!"

"Nor do you, my lovely…"

"S- surrender yourself, or suffer the consequences! I _will_ order my men to kill if needed!"

The man maniacally laughed, she could hear footsteps in the background, and finally, she could hear the sounds of a computer. The man was accessing the Federation HQ's master computer.

"Then, let the hunt begin!"

The man hung up and all of the lights in her office suddenly turned off. Jody gasped and set the phone down.

"No-o…" she muttered in disbelief.

She looked around the pitch black room and found that not a single light was on; the only thing in her office that still had power was her computer and phone, which were now running on battery power. Jody clenched her fists, despite the very frightening dark environment she was faced with, her priority remained the same: Capture this man before escapes.

Jody grabbed the phone and pressed the intercom button, "All Federation personnel- !" she lowered her eyebrows and grunted, the intercom powered off like everything else, "Damn it all!"

She rushed out of her seat and ran towards the elevator door that was in her office, she was the only one who could comprehend this criminal, as she was the only one who knew about him. She stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the _down_ button, but to her misfortune, nothing happened…

"Oh my God!" she screamed in fury.

No matter where she turned, there was not a spark of power in the building. As a final resort, she ran to the stairway that was right next to the elevator, obviously this didn't require power. Despite this, there was still one major issue; there was absolutely no lighting, and she had to run down nearly a hundred floors. It would be difficult to see the steps, and she had no way of knowing what floor she was on unless she counted.

"You have got to be kidding me!" she exhaled loudly and began speed walking down the steps, despite not being able to see, she skipped a few steps to quicken her speed, "Floor eighty-nine…"

She very slowly walked around the next fleet of stairs with a very panicked look. She knew catching this man would be difficult considering he only needed to climb back up nine floors, while she had to go down eighty-nine. She took a step onto another floor and grinded her teeth in frustration.

"Eighty-eight…"

She was getting much faster, but was still making slow progress. To her luck, she could hear several Federation far below; but they were all panicking.

"Eighty-seven…" she sighed and then growled, "God help us all…"

After about fifty floors, Jody had now gained the confidence to jog down the stairs. She had no doubt in her mind anymore that the criminal either had or was at least close to escaping. Best case scenario would be that he had gotten lost trying to make his way back to the lobby in pitch darkness.

Jody came to a complete stop and gasped upon seeing something coming up from the center of the stairway-a light. She stopped on her current floor and looked down.

"Who's got the flashlight!?" she shouted down.

The light was directed towards her, she waved, and the person with the flashlight momentarily was revealed to be Dr. Stewart after shining it on himself.

"Stewart! Hold on!"

Jody began running down the stairs again, Stewart was shining a path for her as she ran to guide her. She was panting as she ran down at a dangerously fast speed, yet she was somehow landing on each step perfectly. After about a minute of running, she got down alongside Stewart and Tanaka.

Stewart gritted his teeth, "Jody, what's-"

"We need to get to ground level!"

"Why?"

"The person stealing from us, he's trying to escape, he called me just before he cut the power off!"

Stewart and Tanaka exchanged glances and nodded, Stewart shined the flashlight down towards the stairs.

"Then let's go!"

The three had continued for several more minutes down the stairs, and at last, they had made it to ground level. Jody forced open the door to the lobby while panting, she ran inside the lobby and immediately scanned the area for her enemy. The lobby was pitch black and seemingly untouched. Stewart and Tanaka got beside her and helped scan the room. Jody grunted and pointed at the doors.

"What the Hell! The doors are locked!?"

The entire entrance was closed off. Not only did the man power off the building, but he put it on lockdown before doing so. Jody grasped her forehead and shook negatively.

"But, then he couldn't have escaped through the entrance-"

The three jolted up in shock at the sound of an explosion, it was coming from the garage. Jody grabbed her companions arms and rushed away from the lobby towards the garage. The three were running very fast, determined to capture the criminal while they still could.

Jody slid around the corner and kicked open a door, revealing all of her team's F-Zero machines.

"Stop in the name of the Federation!" she shouted loudly.

Just at that moment, the only door leading to the outside closed. Jody turned her head and clenched her fists as she ran towards it. Just before she got to it, the control panel had burst into sparks-the man destroyed it from the outside.

"No!"

She forced herself at the door and started to kick on it, but it was perfectly jammed. She looked down at the control panel, but found that it was now displaying an error. The battery power to the panel was low, and it was frozen on lockdown. As to how the man bypassed a door that was on lockdown was unknown to her.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

She quickly spun around and looked at her companions, they were both staring at the _White Cat_ with frightened looks.

"What are you two doing!? Help me get outside!"

She ran up to the two and raised a frantic eyebrow upon looking at their faces; both Stewart and Tanaka had petrified looks as they were shining the light on her machine.

"Are you two crazy!? I said, get that God damn door open!"

Stewart momentarily grasped her head with both hands and forced her to look at her machine. She growled at him and looked at the _White Cat, _but she didn't understand what they were so startled by. Moments of studying the machine revealed the truly horrifying discovery…

Jody gasped, and her eyes dilated as she was instantly stunned.

"I- impossible…"

The _White Cat_ had a simple custom decal put on by Jody, it was the two words _White Cat_; this was painted on in red with sharp lettering. There was now an edit made to the two words, a very simple change, and it was enough to nearly make Jody faint…

The _C _in _Cat_ had been turned into a _B… _The _White Bat_…

Stewart and Tanaka both looked at the petrified Jody, Stewart grabbed her shoulder, "Jody…"

Jody was trembling greatly, she was staring at the term, _Bat_, very carefully. She shook negatively and pointed at Stewart with a straight finger.

"We need to get back to my computer, now!"

"But that's eighty-nine floors up!"

"I don't care! I have a number on my phone that I _need_ to call, right, now!"

Stewart grabbed her shoulders, "Jody, we can use my phone to call someone to help us out of this building. My room is-"

"No…" Jody turned towards the door with a very scared look, "I need to make a _special_ call, ASAP…"

About thirty minutes later, Chiya was lying in her bed sleeping. The lightning and rainfall was making this very hard for her to sleep. For once, she was in her regular attire as she slept. She was too anxious to wake up after Earl promised her that they would go swimming when she woke up. Mauser was sleeping soundly in her arms, Earl was now sleeping in his room as well, only he was having a much easier time doing so than Chiya. She squirmed in her sleep and was constantly waking up whenever a lightning strike got very loud.

Chiya widened her eyes and gasped as a lightning strike made a very loud boom that shook her room slightly. She was trembling greatly and brought her blanket up to her face; even Mauser was greatly startled by this. She closed her eyes tightly, despite how old she was, some people were simply afraid of storms. _It's okay, Chiya, soon it'll be day, and me and Earl will be swimming…_ she got a nervous smile and dipped her head down slightly. She rubbed her nose against Mauser's fur slightly for comfort.

But then possibly one of the most frightening things she ever heard echoed throughout the base, and it wasn't the storm…

Chiya gasped loudly and began to hyperventilate at the sound of a phone ringing. Chiya's eyes began to water, as she realized that she was truly living in a nightmare.

"Oh my God, oh my God…" she panicked aloud.

The thing was, the phone never rang. No one knew where Chiya and Earl lived, therefore, no one had called the base in months. This was the first time it had begun to ring without Seppuku present, and it was beyond frightening. Chiya leapt into her boots while holding Mauser, her eyes were quivering in absolute fear. There was only one thing that could calm her down at this point, and that was to find Earl.

She pressed the button on her lamp, but to her shock, nothing happened.

"W- what!?"

The phone continued to ring, it echoed throughout the entire base; haunting them. Chiya couldn't stand it anymore, she needed to feel safe in Earl's arms in such a horrific moment. She just wanted the ringing to stop, whether it did or not, she was going to ask if she could sleep with Earl for the remainder of the night.

She held Mauser under her arm and rushed towards her door, quickly opening it while hyperventilating.

"Earl! Earl, please! Earl!" she gasped and nearly jumped as her shoulders were grabbed, "Earl! Earl!"

"It's me, you're okay…"

Chiya continued to hyperventilate as she looked into Earl's eyes, he now had a glow stick in his hands. Chiya hugged him while hyperventilating, he quirked his mouth and began walking with her towards Seppuku's office, where the phone was ringing…

"We're going to be okay. The power's out and the city is probably just calling us to alert us…"

Chiya wouldn't let go of Earl and Mauser, she was only feeling slightly more calm in Earl's arms, but she was still beyond frightened to enter Seppuku's dark office to answer a phone that never rang.

They entered the dark office, the only visible light was the bright bloom from the computer monitor. The phone had now been ringing non-stop for nearly two minutes, meaning the caller was persistent.

Earl walked around the desk and hesitantly pressed the speaker button with quivering eyes, Chiya bit her finger nervously.

"H- hello?" answered Earl.

The sound of a woman panting could be heard on the other line, Chiya instantly began to panic at the sound of this.

"Earl, this is Jody Summer!"

Chiya widened her eyes and looked at Earl, then back at the phone. This was the first time Jody had contacted them since her news that Seppuku had been executed, and by the tone of her voice, both Chiya and Earl knew that something terrible was happening.

"Yes, Ms. Summer?"

Jody continued to pant with a panicked tone, "Look, is Chiya with you!?"

"Y- yes, I'm here-"

"Look, look, you two need to get out, right, now!"

Chiya gasped and held Earl more tightly, Earl quirked his mouth fearfully, "What are you talking about, Jody?"

"Get out of there! While you still can!" Earl and Chiya were left speechless, the power was out, it was storming, and Jody was scared, "You two need to get out of there, run away, get off this planet!"

"Why!? What's happening!?" Chiya panicked.

"I don't know the science behind it, believe me, b- but, he's coming for you!"

Chiya gasped, Earl was now trembling immensely, "Who's coming for us!?"

"Seppuku! He's back from the dead, I- I don't know how, but he is!"

Chiya's pupils became small, "Seppuku's alive!?"

"He just cut all power to the Federation HQ and locked us all in here, we can't send help!"

Chiya grasped her forehead, "Call for help!"

"We _are_ the help!"

Earl grunted in shock and grabbed Chiya's arm tightly, "O- oh my God! But Jody, the power here has already been lost!"

Jody gasped, the sound of her phone dropping onto the floor could be heard. Chiya covered her mouth and looked at Earl, Jody momentarily picked the phone back up.

"I'll have emergency units sent over there in twenty minutes! Just get out of there, somehow, anywhere! You _know_ that he's coming for revenge!"

Jody hung up on them, leaving Chiya and Earl with petrified looks.

"E- Earl, I'm scared!"

Earl wrapped his arms around her while trembling, "We need to get out of here-"

Both gasped in complete shock as the sound of a door slamming could be heard. The lobby entrance had been opened and closed.

"Oh my God! He's here! He's here to kill us!" Chiya panicked.

Earl grabbed Chiya's mouth with widened eyes, "To Hell with it, we just gotta' make a run for the garage!"

"But Earl-"

"Shut up and run!"

Without further hesitation, the two sprinted towards the dark lobby. Earl only had a bright blue glow stick in his hand as they ran, Chiya was instantly bursting into tears, realizing that they were up against Seppuku. No matter what situation they could possibly be in, Seppuku would be able to slaughter them in the darkest way possible. Worst of all, Seppuku was mainly angry at Chiya; so she would be first to die…

Earl kicked open the lobby door with widened eyes, but both gasped as they scanned the dark room. No one was present…

"Earl!"

"Hold on, Chiya…"

The two ran up to the dining table and looked around the room, there was no one in plain sight standing around. Chiya squealed as she caught one specific thing, however. She pointed at the display cases as scared tears went down her face. Earl grunted and turned his head towards the cases, at first he didn't see what was out of place; but then he did. Seppuku's fedora was no longer in the case…

"H- he really is back…" Earl muttered in disbelief.

The two very silently walked towards the garage door, planning on escaping with their F-Zero machine. Of course, the one issue they faced was that Seppuku could currently be in the garage. Just as they came to the end of the dining room table and came close to the garage door; a noise could be heard from behind them. Chiya gasped and turned her head, Earl did the same and grunted loudly. The sound of a wine glass could be heard being set down on the table. Earl tightly grasped Chiya's hand and hesitantly moved the glow stick up, Mauser observed the glow stick in intrigue, clearly not understanding the situation they were in.

Chiya was softly hyperventilating as Earl raised the glow stick, and then the greatest shock went through their body. Straight out of a horror movie, sat the Man of Darkness on the other end of the dining table. Seppuku was sitting motionlessly at the end of the table with his head down.

Chiya tugged on Earl's sleeve constantly, urging him to run while they still could, but Earl found himself stunned in horror. Seppuku was holding onto a small glass of blood-red wine; he slowly brought it up to his lips and took a sip.

"Earl, let's go, let's go, let's go..!" she muttered in absolute shock.

Finally, Seppuku set the glass down and very slowly began to reveal his face, the first thing that was visible to them was a very displeased quirked mouth. He then looked straight at them with a most disturbing gaze, his typical white eyes were completely void, his visor was simply pitch black as he stared at them.

The horrifying gaze had finally convinced Chiya to take charge, realizing that Earl was paralyzed by horror and could no longer get them out alive. She grabbed his hand and ran through the garage door, Earl quickly followed him. Seppuku revealed a very faint smirk as he watched the garage door slam shut. He held the glass of wine in the air and momentarily dropped it onto the floor, shattering it with ease…

Chiya climbed aboard the _Purring Kitten_ and turned it on immediately while trembling, she put on her headset and was constantly looking back towards the garage door, but it was pitch black. Earl turned on an emergency back up generator that was in the garage, thus restoring power to the base. The lights remained off none-the-less. Earl put his headset on and gritted his teeth, Chiya pressed the garage door opener and was tightly holding her wheel. She gasped as the door leading to the lobby was suddenly kicked open. Seppuku was here…

"Earl! Come on, come on, come-"

Earl leapt onto the side of the machine and pounded on her cockpit window, "Go! Go! Go!"

Without further hesitation, Chiya left the garage. She was so frightened however, that she had literally used boost power to get out of the garage. Seppuku slowly walked into the middle of the garage and leaned against the _Red Dove_ as Chiya, Earl, and Mauser had just narrowly escaped.

Seppuku smirked and softly chuckled; the hunt was on…

Chiya and Earl now raced down the pouring streets of the Lower City, both were completely traumatized by what had just happened. Somehow, they had survived their first encounter with Seppuku. One thing was clear to them, however, he clearly wasn't trying very hard to kill them.

Chiya continued to cry as she raced, Earl was looking back constantly, wondering if Seppuku would pursue them. Earl sighed and looked back at Chiya.

"Well, we're alive, Chiya…"

Chiya bit on her finger and stroked Mauser's fur for comfort, "But for how long!?"

Earl nodded as lightning flashed in the sky, he hummed and bit his lip.

"We need to run, far away, somewhere Seppuku won't get us…" he turned his head and quirked his mouth, "But where..?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and raised her head up, "I know where, there really is only one place we can go for asylum…"

Earl raised an eyebrow, "Where?"

Chiya glanced over at the three petal flower she had hanging in her machine, each petal representing a member of Seppuku's organization. She sighed and looked back at Earl.

"Let's get to the ship, as soon as possible…" Earl nodded at her and looked down at Mauser, who appeared very excited by the change in environment.

"We're heading to Mysteria, where we'll be protected…"

To be continued…


	8. Lap 7

==Lap 7=

In Japan, it was about 1:30 AM; the white and blue F-Zero vessel of Chiya Flower was quickly venturing away from Earth. They had every intention of leaving the Milky Way galaxy as fast as possible. Both Chiya and Earl were exhausted, but the adrenaline rush they now had kept them wide awake. Neither Chiya nor Earl understood how Seppuku was alive, but regardless, the time for questions needed to be postponed; they were indeed being hunted.

Chiya walked into the living room of the ship while trembling, Earl was standing around holding his head in fright, he too was trembling.

"I set a course for Mysteria, we can hide at Mom's house until this clears up," said Chiya.

Earl sighed loudly and briefly widened his eyes, "But how do we clear this up..?"

"Either way, even if we do stay hidden from him, I'll probably have to confront him on the day of the Grand Prix…"

Earl fake chuckled with a frightened expression, "Forget the Grand Prix for now, we have bigger issues at hand!"

This was Mauser's first time leaving the base in two years, and he was acting very excited as he was walking around the kitchen. The cat climbed up on the stove and rubbed his paw along the surface a few times.

"You realize that if Seppuku finds us, we're not going to make it out of Mysteria alive, right?"

Chiya growled, "I know, I know..!"

"Why are we going to Mysteria of all places? I'd imagine that's in his list of first places to check…"

"I know, but it's the best place we can hide right now," she rubbed her chin while staring at Mauser, "My planet is a dictatorship that censors the media, doesn't allow anyone off the planet nor do they allow many inside. Since I'm a celebrity here, they'll let us stay for asylum, protect us, and most importantly, the media won't let the universe know that we're here…"

Earl sat on the couch and sighed loudly again, "I can't believe this is happening…"

Chiya joined him and stared at her knees with a disturbed expression, "But how did he survive?"

Earl narrowed his eyes angrily, "I'll tell you why. Those damn conspiracists were right, they were completely right. Clearly, Jody didn't actually execute him; they must have had him locked up somewhere all these months; and now he broke free…"

"So they didn't even try and execute him!?"

"That's what I'm thinking; the Federation must have lied to us all about his apparent demise…"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "But, Jody sounded so surprised…"

"Look, I don't know! Governments lie all the time, that's how it works! Just look at your planet's government…"

Chiya tapped her lip a few times and nodded, "I see…"

Earl groaned and continued to shake his head in frustration, "The Federation really screwed up this time, and they can only fix this now, by killing Seppuku…"

Chiya gasped, "Kill him!?"

He returned a glare and nodded, "Yes! They need to kill him, Chiya; he's beyond dangerous right now!"

"Can't they just lock him up again?"

"What- Chiya, listen to yourself! This man who has killed so many with his bare fists is now looking to kill us!"

Chiya closed her eyes and sighed loudly, "Maybe I should try talking to him, this is all my fault anyways…"

"No! Chiya! We have worked for this man for so long, you know him just as well as I do, he would never consider your apology; he is bloodthirsty after so many months…" he crossed his arms and looked away from her, "Besides, that wasn't your fault. Had we stood by Seppuku during that arrest, you and I would have been locked away. We both would have probably been killed after being sexually tormented…"

Chiya covered her face and whimpered, "I- I just want to be friends again…"

"The time for friendship is over Chiya. You and I have a bright future together, and we need to protect our future; the only way to do that is by staying united; and Seppuku desires to break us apart…"

The two looked down as Mauser walked past their feet as he further explored the new environment he was in. Earl turned his head towards Chiya and lowered his eyebrows.

"Mysteria was a good idea; we'll just stay at your mother's house until the Grand Prix starts. Hopefully, Seppuku will have somehow been comprehended by then," he crossed his arms and quirked his mouth, "I'll gladly help your mother around the house in any way to compensate for our stay…"

Chiya swished her hand down, "Oh, Earl, you know that Mom is overjoyed to have us over. She would definitely let us stay as long as needed, especially since we're in an emergency crisis."

Earl exhaled and nodded, "Still, maybe I'll do some maintenance around the house; with her approval, of course."

"She'd like that…"

Earl growled softly and face palmed, "Fiona's such a kind hearted woman, I can't believe we're going to be endangering her…"

Chiya widened her eyes, "B- b- but, Seppuku had sex with her, doesn't that mean anything to him!?"

Earl shrugged and quirked his mouth, "Not really, sex is sex to him I'm sure."

Chiya dipped her head down and brought her feet together, "I don't think it is…" Earl quickly looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "I imagine it's a very romantic period. Exploring your partner's body for the first time and proceeding to try new things on each other…" she clapped her hands together excitedly with sparkling eyes, "-and you get to have babies!"

Earl hummed at her and slowly looked away, "Well, that's how sex _should_ be looked at. People are perverted and will always view sex as an inappropriate act-Seppuku certainly doesn't fit your description of the word _sex_…"

"So, he just took advantage of her?"

Earl lowered his eyelids down and sighed, "Probably…"

Chiya continued to stare at him intensely, but ultimately decided not to expand on this. She yawned and dipped her head down.

"We'll probably be flying towards Mysteria for five more hours…"

Earl nodded and stood up slowly, "Well, regardless of what has happened tonight, we should both get back to bed…"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows sadly, "Well, I guess no swimming tomorrow…" she said softly.

Earl lowered his eyebrows sadly as well. Earl didn't very much want to swim, but this was his answer to Chiya's recommendation to bathe together-something he really didn't feel like trying. Despite being free from this, he felt bad for Chiya. She had been very excited to go swimming with him, but now this was something they likely couldn't do.

He put his hand on Chiya's shoulder and smiled, "Hey, we probably can't focus on anything like that right away, considering we're being hunter and need to settle in first. But how about we go look around Mysteria one of these days for a place to swim?"

Chiya beamed at him, "That would be great! Except, I didn't bring my swimming suit…"

Earl sighed, "Yeah, I guess I can take a little money out of Project Neptune…"

She hugged him tightly with a smile, "Thank you…"

He slowly smiled as well and proceeded to pat her back a few times, "But first things first, we need to get to your mother's house and settle in. After we know that we're safe, we can resume having fun and such," he snapped his fingers and beamed at her, "I remain true to my word, starting on our birthday and first race, we will merge beds for good."

Chiya had a quivering smile as she continued to hug him. Something was telling her that they would be okay, Seppuku wouldn't find them and he would never kill them. As for the Grand Prix, she had faith that tackling Seppuku wouldn't be the hardest challenge since she considered herself a fairly skilled racer. Despite what Earl was telling her, she had every intention to meet up with Seppuku during the Grand Prix and try reestablishing a friendship with him.

Earl walked towards the bridge of the ship and looked back at her, "I'm going to set the ship so we arrive at Mysteria in about nine hours instead of five; let's be well rested when we get there…"

Chiya nodded at him and took off her jackboots; she left them in front of the couch and continued towards her room with a tired look.

"Wish I had my nightgown…"

Earl smirked at her, "I'll be there in a minute."

Chiya nodded and closed the door behind her. Seppuku's plan was very clever, neither Chiya nor Earl would doubt that Seppuku would take the _Red Dove_ and leave Mute City. The question they both had, however, was where he would run to…

Jody and Stewart opened the door to floor negative zero, the power was still off, but emergency services had managed to pry the emergency exits open. The next goal was to get the power to the Federation HQ back on. Jody had sent Rick Wheeler, Dr. Clash, and John Tanaka to Seppuku's base to assist Chiya and Earl in escaping. Obviously, Chiya and Earl had escaped from the base long before Jody was able to make the call; she was now simply hoping that her team wouldn't return and tell her that both had been killed. Worst case scenario would be that her team doesn't make it back from Seppuku's base at all.

Stewart was now holding a very bright glow stick that illuminated the entire room. Jody was scanning the kitchen area with a look of intrigue; the remaining case of beer was untouched. She rubbed her chin and quirked her mouth as they continued towards Seppuku's resting place.

"What if Seppuku's still in the coffin?" Jody asked fearfully.

"Then it wasn't Seppuku who escaped."

She lowered her eyebrows and rubbed her chin, "It has to be…"

Stewart opened the cold door for her, Jody immediately marched into the dark room with a determined look. If Seppuku was truly alive, his body in the coffin would be missing. She approached the coffin and dropped onto her knees while grunting, with immense hesitation, she put her fingers slightly under the coffin's lid.

"Jody…"

"Not now…"

Jody narrowed her eyes fearfully and began to lift the coffin open; she easily popped it up and began to push the lid aside. She immediately gazed inside of the coffin and gasped at what she was seeing.

"Jesus Christ…" she muttered in disbelief.

Seppuku was indeed gone; but the coffin wasn't empty. Jody reached into the coffin and grasped a full beer can.

"So he is alive…"

Stewart raised the glow stick over the coffin, both grunted at what they were seeing.

"Well, it looks like Seppuku's wasn't going thirsty or hungry all this time," said Stewart.

The coffin contained every single missing beer, several bags of food, and many fruit scraps. Seppuku had been harboring food and beverages under his body the entire time.

Jody scratched her head with quivering eyes, "Of course…" she grasped her forehead and grunted, "He was never dead, he was staying hydrated and fed off of our food the entire time. He was faking it the whole time!"

"But how did he survive execution? Was the shock a dud?"

Jody slammed her fists down on the floor, "We zapped him with over fifty-thousand bolts of pure lighting! No human being could survive that!"

"Seppuku isn't a human like you and me…"

Jody widened her eyes at his comment, but momentarily nodded, "Yeah…"

"Clearly, you approached his execution the wrong way."

Jody grunted in offense, "I did? That wasn't my call to make! I ordered the Federation to prepare a proper execution for him, they did, and clearly _they_ failed!"

Both gasped as the room quickly lit up; the light bulb on the ceiling had suddenly turned on. Stewart smirked and crossed his arms; power to the HQ had been restored. Jody put the lid back on the coffin and put her hands together.

"Unbelievable…"

Stewart raised an eyebrow, "Well, he's alive. Perhaps God did this for a reason."

"For a reason!?"

"You clearly felt guilty executing him, now you've been given a second chance to make amends with him."

"Out of the question! We need to track him down and kill him!"

Stewart widened his eyes, "After all you went through, you just want to kill him?"

"You thought he was bad before? Well, now he has a reason to be pissed at us. It's only a matter of time before he voluntarily joins Dark Million to get revenge on us, then what!?"

Stewart exhaled loudly and widened his eyes, "U-uh…"

"But worst of all, he's going to try and kill those two lovebirds for choosing their future together over him…"

"We'll comprehend him and deal with him, don't worry about that."

Jody crossed her arms, "No, we kill this man on sight. The first opportunity we get, we must cut his head straight off his shoulders."

"Jody!"

"It has to be done, Stewart! We're already in huge trouble if the media discovers that Seppuku wasn't actually dead. Imagine the conspiracies that will arise!"

Stewart began walking towards the door again, "Well, it's too late for that; the media will probably know about this whole thing in the coming hours…" Jody gasped at this, "We as might as well think ahead of the game and prepare a speech; the citizens must understand that they're still safe…"

Jody grunted, but nodded, "He's a coward, instead of going for Chiya and Earl, he should be going for me; the one who locked him up in the first place…" she cracked her knuckles and quirked her mouth, "He's not going to get away with this…"

Stewart and Jody walked back into the kitchen together; Stewart had a very concentrated look on his face.

"We can only hope that those two will be alright…"

Chiya opened her eyes and slightly gasped as she found herself lying alone in bed, as if she had completely forgotten where she was. She quickly sat up straight and looked around the room for Earl, but was relieved to find that he was sleeping in the other bed. She exhaled and rubbed her forehead softly. In Japan, it would now be considered early in the afternoon.

"Earl."

He remained unresponsive and only made a few grunting noises, Chiya lowered her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"Hey, Earl!"

He responded to her by groaning and flipping onto his back, "…what..?"

She clapped her hands together with a serious expression, "Come on, we need to get going."

Earl opened his eyes and momentarily sat up with tired eyes, he glanced over at Chiya and exhaled in relief, "Well, I'm not surprised that Seppuku was unable to track us down overnight," he quirked his mouth and very slowly got out of bed along with Chiya, "Then again, it's not like Seppuku owns a ship or anything; and buying one from someone is certainly out of the equation for him."

"If Seppuku shows his face anywhere in the universe, he's going to be in some pretty hot water."

The two exited the room and took an immediate turn towards the bridge. The first thing Chiya could see out the window was Mysteria, the ship had auto piloted close to its atmosphere and stopped for the night as planned. Earl sat in one of the two chairs and leaned towards the navigation consoles; Chiya found that Mauser was sitting on the other chair, she picked him up and sat in the chair as she stroked his fur.

Earl hummed nervously as he began to punch in landing coordinates, "Are you _certain_ that we're aloud to land without clearance? Because this planet is strict to the bone when it comes to private vessels entering the planet."

Chiya hesitantly nodded, "They respect me, the Queen has even honored my mother; they may stop us, but in the end I know they'll let us go as we desire."

Earl nodded and glanced over at Mauser, "Is your mom going to be alright having a cat around the house?"

"I hope so, she wouldn't let us have one my entire childhood…" she hummed and lowered her eyebrows as they came closer and closer to the planet's atmosphere, "I'm mainly wondering what Mom's reaction will be when she hears about Seppuku being alive and hunting us…"

Earl closed his eyes, "My thoughts exactly…"

About ten minutes later, their ship slowly hovered over the starport of New Edinburgh; several female Mysterian soldiers and civillians were watching the ship in shock, as this was an unauthorized landing. The ship gently landed in a lone port, several soldiers instantly charged towards the ship from one of the gates. Amongst the group was an officer and the starport master. The loading ramp had instantly hit the ground and the door opened. The soldiers took aim at the door, preparing to comprehend whoever exited. The officer stood in the back of the soldiers with a look of intrigue, anyone who would dare land on Mysteria without authorization was crazy, let alone going to Mysteria in the first place.

Everyone gasped as the dark jackboots and purple shorts of Chiya Flower momentarily became visible, she came walking down with a very straight posture; but instantly widened her eyes in shock at the sight of so many armed soldiers aiming at her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Earl had opened the cargo loading ramp, which contained the _Purring Kitten_; he too was surprised to find so many soldiers prepared to jump them. He threw his hands up in the air and grunted.

The officer swished his hand in the air, "Weapons down, ladies!"

The soldiers all did as was asked and lowered their weapons down to their waist. Chiya exhaled in relief and came walking towards them, Earl followed her closely from behind. The officer marched through the squad of soldiers and saluted Chiya as they walked.

"Chiya Flower, you honor us with your presence, ma'am!"

Chiya blushed and dipped her head down shyly, "I- I'm just a racer…"

Earl grabbed her hand with a fearful expression, "Are we under arrest, sir?"

"No, Ms. Flower was granted a permanent starport visa by the Queen."

Chiya widened her eyes, "Really!?"

"She's a big fan; we all are."

"That's great!" Chiya said ecstatically.

The officer rubbed the back of his head and sighed, "Unfortunately, we do have to commence a full search of your ship before you may proceed on with your day…" Chiya and Earl both nodded, the officer snapped his fingers and pointed at the ship, "Ladies, check all drawers, covers, cabinets, and beds for suspicious items."

The soldiers all proceeded towards Chiya's ship, she turned towards them and quirked her mouth.

"Please make sure they don't steal anything…"

The officer handed her a clipboard and pen, "Please sign-in here."

Chiya nodded and put her signature down on the starport sign-in, Earl grabbed his waist and quirked his mouth as he looked around the starport.

"So-o, say an unwanted guest _did_ show up here; will you be able to comprehend him or her?" asked Earl.

"We've had travelers show up here unauthorized, we simply jail them; as for Federation spies…" he lowered his eyebrows and glanced away, "Spies or anyone who threatens the prosperity of Mysteria are dealt with in a very _fluent_ matter, I assure you…"

Earl returned a fairly disturbed look, but Chiya nodded at this, as if this was completely normal for her. The officer shrugged and smiled at the two.

"May I ask what your business here is?"

Chiya sighed, "You know Lieutenant Seppuku..?"

He narrowed his eyes in disgust, "He nearly ran over several soldiers with his F-Zero machine last year, ran from the law, then stole the Grand Prix from you, from Mysteria!"

Chiya rubbed her arm, "Yea-ah, well, despite what the Federation said about executing him; he's alive, and he's hunting us down…"

"Oh my…"

"We're going to seek refuge at my mom's house."

"Is there any way we can help, would you like me to attempt to set up an audience with the Queen?"

Chiya shook negatively, "We just need to stay here until the Grand Prix starts, then I can hopefully-"

Earl punched her arm and coughed loudly, "-so we can take care of him on the track!"

Chiya glared at Earl, the officer nodded approvingly, "Ah, excellent, the man deserves to have his rear kicked by Mysterian blood after what he pulled!"

All of Mysteria practically despised Lieutenant Seppuku for retiring Chiya from the final race the previous year. A racer who was representing the isolated and hated planet of Mysteria would have brought great pride to their people, unfortunately, Seppuku prevented this from happening. If Chiya had revealed that she actually desired to become friends with him again, the Mysterian community would likely lose a fair portion of respect for Chiya.

The officer smiled at the two and nodded, "Would you like to wait in the lobby until the inspection is complete?"

About an hour had passed, far out in the country was a small impoverished looking homestead within the misty environment of Mysteria. Mysteria was known to have much fog, it was heavy and added greatly difficulty to driving; but most Mysterians were accustomed to this and would view never-ending fog as normal. For someone like Chiya, who played as a striker in varsity soccer, the fog was not an obstacle to her.

Inside of the house, a woman in a pink sweater and blue pants scrubbed dishes over the sink. She was cleaning a plate with a sponge and hot water, a method of cleaning the impoverished planet of Mysteria still needed to resort to rather than using modern washing machines. She held up the plate and looked at her face in the reflection—a blonde haired woman with blue eyes. As she stared at her reflection, a faint pink light slowly emerged in the fog. She slowly lowered the plate and raised an eyebrow as the pink light grew brighter. She rubbed her chin and set the plate down along with other clean dishes. A few moments later she grunted and widened her eyes; the pink light was coming from the rocket of the _Purring Kitten_, which momentarily revealed itself.

She blinked a few times in shock and quickly dried her hands off with a rag, afterwards, she ran towards the door with great pace.

The _Purring Kitten_ parked next to a Mysterian-made regular vehicle, Earl looked into the cockpit of the machine. Chiya quickly opened the cockpit and stretched as she unbuckled. The woman momentarily emerged from the entrance to the house and took a few steps down into the grass. Chiya climbed out of the cockpit and stepped onto the body of her machine; she beamed and slid off the body upon locking eyes with the woman.

"Mommy!" she spat out excitedly.

The woman smiled and held her hands out as Chiya immediately launched into her and gave her an excited hug. This was Fiona Flower, the mother of Chiya. Fiona rubbed the back of Chiya's head with a smile. Earl was throwing all of Chiya's bags onto the ground; he had a pet carrier containing an overly frightened Mauser.

Fiona chuckled softly and patted Chiya's back, "What a nice surprise…" she slowly pushed Chiya's head back and raised an eyebrow, "But it's almost Christmas, dear, what are you doing here?"

Chiya didn't respond to her, she still had a heartwarmed look on her face; this was her third time visiting her mother since she had escaped to Earth many years ago. Fiona waited for an answer, but Chiya didn't appear prepared to tell her about their predicament right on the spot.

"I- u-uh, we just felt like celebrating Christmas here is all…"

Chiya exhaled and let go of her, Earl momentarily approached the two holding two of Chiya's bags. Fiona beamed at Earl and held her arms out.

"Earl!"

Earl briefly widened his eyes and then smiled at her, "Great to see you too, Mrs. Flower."

Chiya looked back and forth at the two happily, she was ecstatic that Fiona was so acceptant of Earl being her boyfriend. Fiona began to approach Earl with her arms out.

"Come on, dear, give me a hug."

Earl grunted and widened his eyes; he looked down at her chest and swallowed nervously as her large breasts slightly jiggled as she walked. Earl backed away while frantically shaking negatively.

"Uh, uh, no thank you, a handshake will suffice…"

He grunted as Fiona wrapped her arms around him and tightly hugged him, "Nonsense, you're a Flower in my eyes, dear."

Earl was slightly blushing with twitching eyebrows. He was the kind of person who was heavily disturbed with a woman hugging him, as he didn't like that their breasts would push up against him. Chiya was the only person he felt safe hugging tightly.

Earl glanced over at Chiya with quivering eyes; she clearly knew why Earl appeared so panicked. Chiya lowered her eyelids and puckered her lips playfully; she proceeded to jiggle her own breasts around to mock him.

Earl softly patted Fiona's back and quickly slipped out of her grasp, "Uh, anyways..!"

Fiona smiled at him, but then something was caught in the corner of her eyes—the pet carrier. She widened her eyes and grunted as she could slightly see Mauser panicking in the cage. She turned her head towards Chiya suspiciously.

"You brought your cat along?"

Chiya swallowed nervously and rubbed her arm, "U-uh, I didn't want to leave Mauser behind. I love him too much to stay away from him."

Fiona blinked a few times at her with a blank expression; she slowly turned towards the cage again and hummed, "I see…"

Earl bowed, "I hope our cat's presence here won't be much of a burden…"

Fiona continued to stare at the cage intensely, she momentarily quirked her mouth and shook negatively, "Not at all, dear."

Chiya fake coughed and picked up the bags Earl had been holding, "Well, uh, come on then! Let's head inside."

Earl approached the pet carrier and grabbed it, he followed Fiona back into the house with a nervous look.

"Report?" asked Jody.

Rick nodded, "There was no one there; no bodies, no blood."

Jody exhaled loudly and grasped her forehead, "What about the garage? Was the Purring Kitten there?"

Rick shook negatively, "No."

"W- was the Red Dove there?"

"No."

Jody slammed her fist down on her desk and narrowed her eyes, "Shoot…"

"The base is completely abandoned."

Jody rubbed her chin and hummed, wondering where Chiya and Earl had gone, but most importantly to her, she wanted to know where Seppuku had gone.

"Knowing the Lieutenant, he'll stay hidden under a rock until the Grand Prix begins…"

"Do we fight him on the track?"

Jody immediately nodded, "Regardless of whether Blood Falcon _may_ still be alive and racing, we need to focus _completely_ on killing the Lieutenant. I can almost guarantee you that he is going to give Dark Million a keen eye," she shook her fist intensely as she thought to herself, "If Dark Million acquires Seppuku, humanity will have no shot whatsoever at surviving."

"A clone army of Seppuku's?"

Jody nodded, "If a clone army of Seppuku were to attack Mute City, we'd have no choice…" Rick raised an eyebrow, Jody sighed loudly and turned a strict eye on him, "If this were to happen, we would need to wipe out this entire city, with a weapon of mass destruction…"

Rick grunted, "What!?"

"It would be the only way to ensure that the clones all die and that Black Shadow is destroyed in the blast," she exhaled loudly and widened her eyes, "But it's not going to get to that point, and fortunately, I'm almost certain by now that Black Shadow died on Green Plant last year…"

"Y- you would destroy a city that has been around for nearly a millennium?"

Jody closed her eyes, "Rick, you can't look at it as black and white as that…" she sighed loudly and stood up, she walked up to the window and put her hand on it as she gazed upon the metropolis, "Seppuku is far too powerful…"

"Powerful?"

"I don't have a single doubt in my mind that the Lieutenant could annihilate this entire city of its population, single-handedly…" she rubbed her fingers along the window with an intense gaze, "_One_ person. I believe that this _one_ person could do this…" Rick had a very intrigued look on his face, "Now, imagine if there were thousands of him…"

"Oh, man…"

"All Black Shadow would need to do is disperse one or two of these clones per city. Each clone destroying entire populations, the survivors would need to live out in a jungle or forest…" She swallowed and dropped her arms down, "Like a pandemic, the population would slowly diminish, and eventually, every last surviving Earthling will have perished…"

Rick grunted, "You really believe this could happen?"

Jody lowered her eyebrows and grinded her teeth, "I- I don't believe Black Shadow is even around anymore…"

Rick continued to stare at Jody intensely, she slowly turned her head towards him and sighed, "Part of me thinks we should try apologizing to him and simply let him co-exist with us; but deep in my heart, I know this to be impossible." She sighed again and crossed her arms.

"We need to kill Seppuku, somehow, and quickly…"

Chiya, Earl, and Fiona were sitting around the kitchen table; Mauser was already off exploring the unfamiliar household. Both Chiya and Earl appeared frantic, as they had now ultimately decided not to tell Fiona about the manhunt Seppuku was on. As far as she was concerned, the two simply wanted to spend Christmas with Chiya's mother.

Earl stretched and looked out the window; there were now blooming flowers across the window from the outside.

"Those are beautiful flowers, Mrs. Flower."

Fiona nodded, "Michael and his friends planted them over the summer for me, they do a lot of landscaping for me…"

Chiya smiled, "So, Michael Chain is still being friendly?"

"Yes, I've learned much about the atrocities he's committed on Earth, but like any human, I forgive him and accept him as a changed person…"

"I see…"

Earl chuckled, "Two years ago, Chain was our biggest rival, now he's a family friend."

"I commonly have Michael over for tea during the weekends, so don't be surprised if he stops by later."

Earl crossed his arms and quirked his mouth, "You know what's funny?" both women turned their heads towards him, "Honest to God, the only times I've ever seen Michael Chain was on the racetrack."

Chiya raised an eyebrow, "But we saw him all the time two years ago."

"_You_ saw him; I never had any run-ins with him."

Fiona lifted up a white cup of tea and nodded soundly; she took a sip out of it and momentarily wiped her mouth. Chiya was left smiling at her mother, the joy of seeing her mother never got old for her. Fiona sighed loudly and crossed her arms.

"Alright, enough time has passed for me to ask…" Earl and Chiya widened their eyes, Fiona closed her eyes with a serious look, "Why are you two actually here?"

Chiya tugged on her collar and swallowed nervously, "I- I- no, Mom, we came her for the holiday!"

Fiona fake chuckled, "Dear, you brought your cat along and enough supplies to last you a month…"

Chiya dipped her head down and slightly glanced over at Earl, he had a taken back look as well. Fiona continued to drink her tea while shaking negatively.

"Don't you dare lie to your mother, Chiya…"

Chiya grunted, "I'm not-" Fiona looked deeply into her eyes before she could finish, Chiya gritted her teeth and dipped her head down, "Okay, fine…"

Fiona put the cup down and turned her head slightly; Chiya closed her eyes and put her hands together.

"Seppuku isn't dead…"

"What!?"

Earl nodded, Chiya opened her eyes and quirked her mouth, "The Federation claimed that he was dead, but apparently he wasn't, and he's escaped from custody…"

"Oh my-"

"Seppuku promised us before he was taken away, that if he found us, he would _come for me_ first."

Fiona sighed and closed her eyes while trembling, "…that's not good…"

Earl nodded, "Seppuku's far too strong and talented for us to face, so we needed to run, hide somewhere. Ultimately, we decided that Mysteria was the best place we could go."

Fiona closed her eyes and nodded, "He _is_ pretty strong and talented, he made that much clear to me that one night…"

Chiya and Earl stared at her for several moments, Chiya momentarily grunted and shot her eyes open with a blush, "Mom!"

Earl nearly cringed upon hearing this, Fiona crossed her arms and quirked her mouth.

"So you decided that hiding at your mother's house was the best course of action?" Chiya nodded, Fiona narrowed her eyes, "You didn't take into consideration that you may be putting my life at risk as well?"

Chiya and Earl both dipped their head down shamefully, Fiona smirked and nodded at the two. Earl sighed and prepared to stand up.

"We understand, Mrs. Flower, we'll be on our way then…"

"Now, hold on…" she said reaching out towards him, Earl sat back down and nodded, "I'm certainly not going to deny your company, especially since this isn't your fault to begin with…"

Chiya exhaled in relief, "Thank you…"

Fiona nodded, "Understand, however, that I'm a poor woman, and I can't go buying groceries for you two constantly. If you two are in need of money, you're going to find work."

Chiya groaned loudly, "Work…"

Fiona slammed her fist down, "Chiya, that is a very improper attitude; just because you're an F-Zero racer and Mysterian celebrity, doesn't mean that you can skip out on work."

Chiya rolled her eyes and glanced over at Earl, "Yeah, well, luckily we do have money, right?"

Earl dipped his head down, "U-uh, a little…"

Chiya glared at him, "What did you do with all of the money Captain Falcon paid you?"

"Project Neptune."

Chiya growled, "Bloody Hell! Who cares about your little project!"

Earl glared at her, "Yeah, well, it's my money…"

"What's Project Neptune?"

"Something idiotic I'm sure!" answered Chiya.

Earl folded his arms with a frustrated expression, "A secret investment I've been making…"

Chiya proceeded to grind her teeth at him, fearing that this was something expensive he was saving up for that was solely for him. Fiona slapped her hand against the table and shook negatively at Chiya.

"Chiya, stop being a spoiled brat."

Chiya glared at her mother, "Me, the spoiled brat!?" she pointed at Earl and narrowed her eyes; "He's probably saving up for a beer keg or something!"

"I don't drink anymore; I respect you too much to do that…"

Fiona shook negatively, "Enough, Chiya. You refuse to work, you're asking for money, and you expect me to buy everything for you as if you're still a child," she snapped her fingers, "Just calm down, Earl _worked_ for that money, so he can do as he desires with it…"

Chiya pouted angrily and nodded, "Fine…"

Earl was fairly offended by Chiya at this point, but he certainly didn't want their relationship to grow tension filled at all, "Chiy', I swear, it's a good investment—a great investment."

Chiya slowly nodded at him and exhaled, "I could go for a back massage right now…"

Fiona and Earl both grunted in shock as Chiya pulled the vibrator out of her pocket and proceeded to rub her back. Fiona was left jaw-dropped at what she was seeing; she immediately swung her attention over towards Earl. He widened his eyes at her and bit on his finger.

"…Earl, why is my daughter-"

"I swear to God, Mrs. Flower, she uses it as a back massager!"

About two hours later, Fiona had left to attend to her own matters. Chiya and Earl were once again going to sleep in Chiya and Abigail's bedroom, which only had one very small bed. Chiya was lying on her bed with her boots off; Earl was unloading his bag and putting food and drinks on the floor. The two were unable to grab any of their things before fleeing from the base, therefore they were stuck with the same pair of clothing. Their hygiene was instantly a concern to both of them, as they could wear the same clothes for a few days, but eventually their clothing would become smelly.

Chiya sighed loudly and kicked her foot high up into the air, "This sucks…"

"Don't you like it here?"

Chiya nodded, "Yeah, but I can't enjoy it knowing that we could have a bullet sent into our skulls at any moment…"

Earl smirked, "I have faith that we'll be warned if Seppuku is on the planet."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and hummed, "There's no way he could make it past the starport; even Seppuku wouldn't be able to escape the military."

Earl was skeptical of this, but he nodded none-the-less, "Exactly, just believe me, we're fine…"

Chiya smiled at him and momentarily began to push her fingers together, "Hey, um-m…" Earl turned towards her and nodded, "I'm, uh, I'm sorry about before…"

Earl raised an eyebrow, "About the money?"

"Yes…"

Earl smiled, "It's alright, we have plenty of available credits, we just need to have them exchanged for Mysterops. We should be able to afford food and some clothing with no problem."

Chiya remained silent for a few moments, but she sighed and began to curl down her sock, "Okay, in terms of forgiveness, I'll let you give me a foot massage."

Earl bobbed his head up and grinned, "Really?"

Chiya rolled her sock back up, suddenly becoming shy, "Never mind, never mind…"

Earl dipped his head down and sighed, "I'm not sure we should stay here…"

"What, why not?"

Earl quirked his mouth, "I think your mom is angry at us both for inserting ourselves like this, I think we should just go back and stay in the ship…"

Chiya frowned, "It's a good ship, but…" she shrugged slightly, "I don't know, I like being surrounded by my childhood…"

Earl frowned at her and crossed his arms; he puckered his lips and slowly got up from the ground. Chiya turned her head towards him as he walked towards the door. She quickly flipped onto her belly and kicked her feet in the air playfully.

"Where are you going?"

Earl opened the door and turned his head towards her, "We're already a burden, I'm sure, the least I can do is see if there's any work I can do for your mother."

"For money?"

Earl shook negatively and closed the door behind him. Chiya continued to lay on her bed, she grabbed the remote to her small television set and turned it on.

Earl checked every room for Fiona, but ultimately concluded that she was in her bedroom. He cleared his throat nervously and softly knocked on her door.

"Yes, come in, dear."

He entered the bedroom and cleared his throat again, "Hello, Mrs. Flower, I wanted to-" he grunted loudly and quickly covered his eyes, Fiona appeared just as frightened as she was only in her bra, "Oh! Um, did I-"

"Oh, Earl, I apologize…" Fiona put her sweater back on but kept her blanket over her waist, "I thought you were my daughter. You see, for Mysterians, it's quite normal to see family members so exposed."

Earl kept his hand over his eyes and nodded, "So I've been told…"

Fiona quirked her mouth and dipped her head down in embarrassment, "How can I help?"

Earl slowly moved his hand away from his eyes, but now found that she was in her sweater. He exhaled and shook negatively at her.

"I feel that me and Chiya are being a real burden on you…"

Fiona lowered her eyelids sadly, "No-o, that's not true…" she narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists, "I'm simply offended that you two were lying to me about your visit…"

Earl gave her a heavy Asian bow, "I am sincerely sorry for that, and if you wish for us to leave, I can accommodate this request."

Fiona quickly shook negatively, "Perhaps you misunderstand me, dear, I _want_ you two to stay here."

"You do?"

"If the Lieutenant shows up, perhaps I can speak with him; maybe persuade him not to harass you two."

"I don't know, Seppuku's not much of one for being persuaded…"

"Dear, the Lieutenant is just like Chiya's father; he _can_ be persuaded, if offered the correct gift."

"Regardless, I wanted to know if I could help around the house in any way right now."

Fiona shook negatively, "Oh, that's quite alright."

Earl shook negatively, "No, I implore that you give me work; preferably both me and Chiya."

Fiona rubbed her chin and hummed, "I do think that Chiya could use some work, she needs that ego scraped off of her somehow…"

Earl nodded, "I'm excellent at most forms of maintenance. If there is anything around the house that needs fixing, I'll gladly do it for you."

"I see…" Fiona smiled at him and nodded, "Actually, I'm glad you offered me this, because I certainly could use some help on a thing or two pertaining to maintenance…"

Earl beamed, "Point the way!"

Fiona dipped her head down and grasped her blanket more tightly, "Yes, well, um-m…" she closed her eyes and smiled with a slight blush, "I was preparing for bed, you see…"

Earl raised an eyebrow, "Really? But it's so early in the day."

Fiona turned her head away from him and lowered her eyebrows, "Yes, I sleep at very random times of the day…"

"Alright, can I help you tomorrow then?"

Fiona smiled, "Of course, I'll put you and Chiya to work right away."

Earl bowed to her and backed away towards the door, "Oh, and I forgot to mention the last time I was here…" Fiona raised an eyebrow at him, "Thanks for teaching Chiya how to prepare dishes; her dinner is one of my favorite parts of the day…"

Fiona smiled at him, "It was no problem, dear."

Earl opened the door and bowed again, "Alright, good-night, Mrs. Flower."

He shut the door and walked away. Fiona was left with a heavy smile on her face, having immediately gained much more respect for the man she already well-respected. She chuckled softly and closed her eyes.

"Those two are going to make great parents…" she opened her eyes again and turned her head towards the drawer beside her bed.

"Back massager…" she said while chuckling, she stuck her hand into the drawer and began digging around, "I think this mama could use one right now…"

Meanwhile, in Red Canyon, the _Red Dove _was parked in an unexplored cave. The cave was illuminated by the orange flashing lights of a fire. In front of the _Red Dove_ was a huge fire that had been started on the ground. Lieutenant Seppuku sat beside the fire as he wrote on a piece of paper. He had a very blank expression on his face as he wrote. On the paper, revealed a list of planets—a list of planets that Chiya and Earl may have fled to.

The list contained many possibilities: Green Plant, Fire Field, Sand Ocean, White Land, and many more. The planets were prioritized by numbering, least to greatest. The first planet on his list was Green Plant; the second was Fire Field…

…the third planet was Mysteria…

To be continued…


	9. Lap 8

==Lap 8=

Three muscular men were in the grass around Fiona's garden, each were planting cherry trees in different spots. The men appeared fairly happy at what they were doing, neither of them appeared like the sort of men who would find themselves planting for a widow; rather, they appeared like mass murdering criminals—and that would be correct. These men were affiliated with the Bloody Chain, a former Mute City gang that had fallen at the hands of the Red Star gang, Chiya, Earl, Seppuku, and the Japanese military. Today these men lived on Mysteria, where they had begun new lives as redeemed beings. No longer do these men commit various crimes; they now fabricate parts for vehicles and F-Zero machines. Standing amongst the men was a very large dark skinned man wearing shades and a white muscle shirt. This was Michael Chain—former gang leader, current owner of the Bloody Chain Machine Parts Industry.

Fiona was standing outside with a pair of sunglasses; the sunshine was much brighter and was even making it through the immense fog. For an Earthling, this was normal sunlight to see during a foggy day, but this was uncommon for a Mysterian, thus they were less tolerant of the light.

Earl walked out of the house and stretched, having gotten a great night of rest. Chiya and Earl were always forced to share the same small bed that Chiya grew up in, but he still had an easy time sleeping none-the-less.

Fiona turned towards Earl and waved as he approached her, he had a very determined look on his face. He stopped in front of her and crossed his arms.

"I'm ready for work, ma'am."

Fiona smiled, "Great, let's see if you can figure this out…"

Earl followed her around the house; he passed by Chain and grunted softly. The two exchanged glances as they walked, but to his surprise, Chain swiftly waved to him. This was Earl's first time meeting Chain face-to-face and it was on good terms. Watching him and his ex-gangsters plant for a woman was beyond his comprehension, this wasn't the same Michael Chain that Seppuku always talked about; this was a more kindhearted man.

Fiona scratched her eyebrow as they approached her vehicle and the _Purring Kitten_. Earl raised his eyebrows in surprise that he was likely going to be asked to do vehicular work, something he excelled at.

Fiona rubbed her hand across the hood of her vehicle, "Five months ago, my vehicle started to make a grinding noise every time I accelerate; eventually the grinding stopped after I heard a snap, but now I can't drive anywhere over fifty."

Earl quirked his mouth and rubbed his chin, "I see…"

"I have no idea what could be wrong, I don't see anything that's out of place, but I know something broke…"

Earl opened the hood of the vehicle and hummed, it only took him mere seconds to notice something out of place. He lifted the oil cap and stuck his finger inside; Fiona raised an eyebrow at him. Earl rubbed his finger along the inside, but was only finding the texture of dry and rough textured metal. He took his finger out and found nothing.

"When was the last time you had an oil change?"

Fiona shrugged, "Probably four to five years…"

Earl widened his eyes and softly chuckled, "Yeah, well, I think there's more of an issue at hand other than the speed."

"Are you saying that lack of oil did this?"

"The lack of oil is probably what broke the accelerator. I best recommend not driving this until I fix it, for safety measures."

Fiona smiled, "So you know how to fix this?"

Earl whistled, "Probably."

She dipped her head down and lowered her eyelids, "Blimey, but I can't afford an oil change right now…"

Earl closed his eyes and quirked his mouth, he exhaled and nodded, "It's okay Mrs. Flower, I guess I can take a little bit out of Project Neptune…"

Fiona bit her lip tightly and lowered her eyebrows, "Oh, but I know that you don't want to do that…"

"It's fine…"

Fiona closed her eyes sadly and rubbed her arm, "I- I can pay you back eventually, dear, I won't forget my debt-"

Earl smirked and closed the hood, he leaned against the vehicle and chuckled, "Your daughter's kisses are enough to compensate for it."

Fiona nodded and turned her head towards Chain, "Michael, sweetie, will you come over here for a moment?"

Chain nodded and proceeded to march towards the two, Earl widened his eyes in absolute fear. While he knew that Seppuku could likely beat Chain in a fight without a struggle, he still felt slightly more intimidated by muscular man. Chain crossed his arms after reaching the two and nodded.

"Michael, could I bother you for a drum of oil."

Earl widened his eyes at this, as he was expecting to purchase something much smaller than a drum; however, he was willing to do so none-the-less.

Chain nodded, "Sure, I can have one of my boys drop it by," he rubbed his head and quirked his mouth, "A drum though, I'll probably need to charge you this time…"

Fiona nodded, "Yes, of course."

Chain turned away from the two and held a cellular device up, issuing a Bloody Chain delivery of oil to the house. Fiona exhaled and patted Earl's back.

"Thank you; you're a real saint, dear…"

Earl smirked and shrugged, "To some extent, yeah…"

Much later in the day, Earl had given her vehicle a proper oil change and was now working on reconditioning all other parts of the vehicle. He found countless issues with her vehicle and was beyond surprised that it worked at all; especially with so many years of little-to-no oil. His general assumption was that her vehicle only survived off of battery power—which he had now restored to the vehicle.

Fiona was watching from the kitchen window as Earl and the Bloody Chain were quick at work. She was staring at Earl most of all, impressed at the amount of rags and tools he had on the ground. She could easily see why he was such a desired F-Zero mechanic; Earl hadn't taken a single break from his work since he started. Fiona was becoming fearful however of his condition, feeling that everyone needs a break, regardless of how skilled they may be.

Earl gently dropped a wrench onto the ground and picked up a metallic scraping tool. He began to scrape the rust off of the pipes and vehicle parts. About three minutes into doing this, Fiona approached him after hours of work holding a glass of naturally made grape juice.

"Earl, sweetie…"

Earl bobbed his head up and turned around; he raised his eyebrows in shock at the glass she was offering him. He closed his eyes and chuckled.

"I'm still a recovering alcoholic; I shouldn't have alcohol of any kind."

Fiona pushed the glass closer to him, "It's just fruit juice, dear."

Earl hummed and grabbed the glass, "Well, I appreciate it."

"I appreciate _you_ for doing all of this."

Earl smirked and nodded, "This is kind of adventurous for me; these Mysterian vehicles are so ancient looking compared to the ones we have on Earth," he looked inside of the hood, "It's kind of like I'm restoring some ancient artifact."

"You're a very hard worker, Earl, and I appreciate that."

Earl shrugged with a shy smile, "Yeah, before I met Chiya, I was pretty much dedicated to maintaining Seppuku's machine. That was about all life offered me at the time…"

Fiona brought her hands together and smiled, "That's sweet. Where is my daughter anyways?"

Earl turned towards the vehicle again and shrugged, "Still sleeping, I presume."

Fiona's smile was instantly struck off her face upon hearing this, "But, it's the afternoon…"

Earl stretched and nodded, "Yeah, that's Chiya for you. Like she always says, beauty as glamorous as hers takes a lot of work."

Fiona glared at the back of his head and grunted, her eyes quivering in absolute fury as she quickly spun around towards the door. Earl looked back at her, but found that she was marching away quickly.

Just as Fiona had imagined, the sight of her daughter was even more provoking than what she had imagined seeing. There Chiya snored loudly on her bed. Her legs were spread out, one of her legs was off the bed with a missing sock, she had a bag of chips between her breasts, a blanket covering her back, and her sock was covering her eyes.

Fiona glared at Chiya and marched towards her loudly as she snored. She stood beside Chiya while clenching her fists angrily at the laziest sight she had ever seen. Fiona grabbed the sock of her face, revealing her closed eyes. She patted Chiya's cheek a few times fairly roughly.

"Chiya!" she lectured.

Chiya began to ramble softly to herself as she instantly got an irritated look on her face. She placed her hand on her forehead and turned her head away.

"…put the sock back on my eyes…"

Fiona gasped in fury, "Absolutely not!"

Chiya growled in irritation and forced her face into her pillow, desperate to acquire darkness. Fiona continued to growl as Chiya instantly fell back asleep; this was enough to infuriate her. She grabbed both of Chiya's shoulders and forced her up. Chiya began to whine loudly.

"What the heck! I was sleeping!"

"-and you succeeded! Now get up and put your sock where it should be!"

Chiya slightly opened her eyes and groaned, "Why?"

"Socks belong on your feet, not your face; you look like a bloody bum sleeping with your dirty laundry over your face!"

Chiya closed her eyes again and put her head down on her pillow, "You do it, please."

"Wha- what!?"

"Put the sock on for me and let me get back to bed, I still need about an hour of sleep…"

Fiona began to glow red in fury, having never become this angry since Chiya was an infant. She curled the sock into a ball and narrowed her eyes at Chiya. Chiya closed her eyes and returned to her rest; but suddenly, Fiona shoved the sock into her mouth. Chiya instantly shot her eyes open and began to panic. She sat up quickly and blew the sock out of her mouth.

"Mom!"

"Chiya Lionne Flower, you put that bloody sock back on this instant and get out of bed!"

Chiya rolled her eyes with an intense glare and groaned, "Oh my God! Okay, just calm down already!" Chiya pulled the sock up her foot and got out of bed as asked, "Happy?"

"No, that's not even why I'm angry."

Chiya gasped and flailed her hands in the air, "Blimey! Why are you so pissed then?"

Fiona walked over to the window and pointed at Earl, "Your soon-to-be husband has been working very hard today, he hasn't taken one break, and he's doing this for nothing in return," she narrowed her eyes at Chiya, "He even went his way to spend money out of his own pocket to help me with my vehicle…"

Chiya nodded, "Yeah, Earl likes to work, so what?"

Fiona tapped her foot down impatiently, "You're going to go outside and do yard work for me, dear."

Chiya gasped and glared, "What, why!? I don't want to!"

"Why?"

"I just want to stay inside and watch TV or something, maybe draw, bathe, I don't know…"

Fiona got a smug look on her face and shook negatively, "Wow, that's terrible of you…"

"I'm not your teenage daughter anymore; I can do whatever I want now."

"Like sleep in your ship alone, while I let Earl stay here."

Chiya gasped, "Y- you wouldn't kick me out, not after what you did to me all those years ago!"

"_What I did to you_!? Yeah, what did _I_ do to you, dear..?"

"You snuck me in an embassy ship and abandoned me, sent me to Earth with hardly any money."

"I didn't abandon you and you know it, I did what had to be done, to give you a better life! Do you not have a better life now?" Chiay lowered her eyelids, feeling cornered by this question, "What did you even do with the money I gave you?"

"You didn't give me enough, so I became a bum right away…"

Fiona chuckled sarcastically, "Oh, I'm sure. What did you spend all that money on?"

She twirled her hair around a few times, "I tried getting into university, but I was denied…" she puckered her lips and shrugged, "Then I spent all the money on what I thought would be a life supply of food—until I learned that bagged food can expire…"

"…Chiya…"

"I did use the rest of my money to buy that engine though, and wouldn't you know it, I almost won a Grand Prix with it last year…"

Fiona put her hands on Chiya's shoulders and lowered her eyebrows, "Chiya, I'm not being mean-"

"Yes you are!"

Fiona closed her eyes with a twitching eyebrow, "I'm trying to help you. The life of a lazy carefree person will always fail. Capitalist, Socialists, Communist, Imperial; it doesn't matter what kind of government you live in, the lazy will always lead a poor life."

Chiya sighed, "But Mom, Earl loves to work! It's not like I don't work…"

"Explain."

Chiya closed her eyes with pride and brushed her golden hair, "No offense, but I think I've done a much better job staying beautiful than you did when you were a young adult…"

Fiona nodded in agreement, "Sure, but how is this work?"

Chiya smiled, "Well, to get this kind of beauty, I need to sleep for almost thirteen-hours. That's almost half a day down the drain!"

"…that isn't work…"

"I disagree, it's hard staying asleep," she lowered her eyelids, "…especially when you have a mom who'll shove a sock down your throat…"

Ten minutes later, Chiya was standing out in the grass with a farming tool in her hand. She had a very annoyed look as Fiona was explaining to her what she would be tasked with doing.

"- once you rake up a field, Michael and his friends can plant flower seeds there and make a beautiful garden!" Fiona explained happily.

"Mhm—m…"

"It's a very simple task, but I'd be grateful if you could do this for me," Chiya returned a look of disinterest, "I'm sure Earl will think of you as a real super girlfriend for helping your mother."

Chiya nodded and sighed as Fiona momentarily walked away from her. She held the tool with both hands and looked down at the grass with lowered eyebrows. _Why put me to work on something I'm not even good at..?_ she complained in her mind.

Chiya struck the ground with the tool and began to rake the grass away; this was exposing the soil beneath it. She proceeded to rake the grass back and forth, quickly realizing that this wouldn't be a difficult task, rather, it would be a boring task. She groaned loudly and continued to rake. _Thanks a lot, Mom; now I'm one hour closer to looking hideous…_ she looked over at Earl, who was ecstatically working around Fiona's vehicle. _Probably will make our first child a bit ugly, since I didn't get that one hour of valuable sleep…_

Chiya bit her lip and stopped raking, she scanned the area and sighed.

"I almost wish Seppuku would find us, just to get me out of raking…"

A few hours later, Earl walked out of the bathroom completely showered off. He had been working for a good several hours and was now prepared to take his first break. He considered Fiona's vehicle completely restored and now desired to do indoor housework next, as this would likely make him sweat less. Before Earl entered Chiya's room, he spotted her still standing outside through the window. He grinned and took a turn towards the door; he was so busy working that he'd forgotten to greet Chiya, and it was already getting close to the evening.

He opened the door and walked towards Chiya, who was the only one left outside. The Bloody Chain had returned to their base some time ago. Chiya wasn't holding the tool anymore; rather she was biting a sharp piece of her fingernail off aimlessly. She had about forty percent of the work done after hours of work, but was clearly far behind the schedule Fiona had hoped for. In total, the estimated time it should have taken for anyone to finish this task was about one hour.

Earl smiled as he approached Chiya, preparing to converse with her for the first time today. Just before Earl could greet Chiya, Fiona had run up behind him and grabbed his shoulders. The two stopped behind Chiya as she continued to bite on her finger. Earl turned his head towards Fiona and blinked a few times.

"Earl, I need to speak with Chiya in private, I baked a raspberry pie in the kitchen, you can have a slice for helping me…" she whispered.

Chiya quickly turned her head towards the two upon hearing whispering, Earl nodded while staring at Chiya and turned around towards the door. Chiya initially felt a bit offended, instantly assuming that she was being talked about behind her back negatively. Earl shut the door behind him and Fiona walked up beside Chiya and sighed.

"Well, I gave you a simple task, and you-"

"I don't like to work! I don't even need to, what's the point of doing this!?"

Fiona lowered her eyebrows, "To help me make the perfect garden, and to help you become a better wife."

"I don't need to work! I'm an F-Zero racer and will win the Grand Prix!"

"Chiya…"

"Why are you harassing me with this trash? I just want to lead my own life, okay?"

Fiona nodded, "Chiya, I'll be honest with you. It's not really about the garden at all, I just want you to make Earl happy."

"He is happy! He loves to work, I don't, there's a difference!"

"You know that's not true. No one actually likes to work, they do it for the pride, the honor, and in most cases; the money."

"Well I'm not feeling any of that right now. All I did was sleep half of the day, and spend another quarter of the day ripping out grass."

"Chiya…" she raised an eyebrow at Fiona with a hostile glare, "Earl is going to divorce you if this is how you wish to live your life."

Chiya gasped and shook negatively, "No, he won't!"

"Yes, he will."

"We're in love! He loves me for who I am, he even says so!"

"Chiya…"

"You don't know us! We make each other happy!"

Chiya crossed her arms with a red face and forced herself down onto the ground while pouting. Fiona sighed and knelt down beside her; she patted her back and nodded.

"Your relationship with Earl is much like the one me and Robert had, dear." Chiya lowered her eyebrows and glanced away from her, "Me and Robert started off so happy together, laughing together, doing stuff with each other; neither of us knew that we would one day have a bad marriage…"

Chiya shook negatively, "N- no, Earl isn't like Dad, he'll stay-"

"Eventually, I had you and Abigail; two babies. We certainly didn't want a third child, so we stopped having sex…"

Chiya widened her eyes and gasped, "M- Mom!" she panicked in embarrassment.

"Once our sex life was over, and we had two kids that we had to take care of; we lost that special spark we had with each other so many years ago…" she closed her eyes and sighed, "Now, imagine if I were the kind of wife to begin with that refused to clean the dishes, make food, pay the bills…"

Chiya lowered her eyelids and let out a saddened sigh, "…you two probably would have broken up and never had me and Abby…"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm telling you…"

Chiya dipped her head down sadly, "I make food for Earl…"

"Who cleans Mauser's litter box?"

"Earl…"

"Cleans the bathtub?"

Chiya sighed, "Earl…"

"Dishes?"

Chiya grunted and rubbed the back of her head, "Well, to be fair, I don't even know how to wash dishes…"

Fiona put her hand on her shoulder and smiled, "Don't you think Earl would like you even more if you would just take up _some_ of these responsibilities?"

Chiya closed her eyes and sighed sadly, "…but, the litter box is smelly…"

"Then you shouldn't have a pet."

"No way, I love Mauser!"

Fiona nodded at Chiya and continued to pat her back, Chiya dipped her head down and sighed. Fiona looked up at the dark sky and lowered her eyebrows. She slowly looked back down at Chiya and nodded very slowly.

"You're waiting for Earl to propose to you, aren't you..?"

Chiya widened her eyes in response and slightly gasped, she dipped her head down and hesitantly nodded. Fiona smirked and finally sat down beside her.

"Take up the extra work, cut down your sleeping time, and continue being a fun person to Earl; and I promise you, he'll propose soon…"

Chiya had watery eyes and lowered her eyebrows, "I- it's not just marriage though…"

Fiona raised an eyebrow at her, a few tears began to go down Chiya's face as she softly began to cry.

"I want to have a baby with him, Mom..!"

Fiona shot her eyes open and whistled, "Oh boy…"

"I- I have these feelings, bad feelings, really, really bad feelings…" she swallowed and wiped her tears away, "I- I'm not perverted, I know I'm not, but for some reason…" she quirked her mouth and hid her face into her chest, "I just find myself wishing, every night, that Earl would surprise me by entering my room and-"

Fiona grabbed her mouth and closed her eyes with a smile, "Oh, Chiya, you're not a pervert…" Chiya looked up at her with sad eyes, "It's just Earl you have these feelings for?"

She instantly nodded, "I don't even know what it's going to feel like, I just really want to have a baby with him suddenly…" she grabbed her chest and gritted her teeth tightly, "It feels like something inside of me has filled up to this moment, and every moment that goes by it fills up more and becomes stronger…"

"That's hormones, dear."

Chiya groaned, "I'm not sure if I like hormones…"

"If you can, try and explain to me; is it actually a child you want, or sex?"

Chiya lowered her eyelids and blushed, "…both…" Fiona grunted as Chiya latched onto her arm, "I know I can do it! I know pregnancy is going to hurt, especially with my _size_…" she swallowed in and opened her eyes again, "But I don't care, I'm not going to let that scare me. I'm almost twenty-five and I want to become a mom."

Fiona smiled and tilted her head over Chiya's shoulder, "That's beautiful, darling…"

Chiya closed her eyes and sighed, "But alas, I don't think Earl wants a baby, let alone sex…"

"I'm afraid that you speak the truth, dear…" Chiya gasped sadly at this, "Earl is too honorable of a person to simply force sex onto you, and without sex, there will be no baby."

"No!" Chiya panicked loudly.

"I'm afraid there's work required to get this far…"

Chiya nodded, "I understand…"

She rubbed Chiya's cheek and smiled, "I'm going to help you, somehow…"

Chiya gasped and quickly turned red, "D- don't tell Earl about this! He can't know!"

"Relax, this is a family matter; Earl isn't officially part of our family; not yet…"

"How are you going to help?"

Fiona smirked and rolled her eyes, "Your mother knows best, Chiya, just as you will always know more than your child."

Chiya puckered her lips and rubbed the back of her head, "I dunno' about that, Mom. I bet if I put you behind the wheel of an F-Zero machine you'd-"

"I mean, as far as life lessons go, dear," Fiona crossed her arms and closed her eyes, "I'll do my best to get inside Earl's head, convince him that having a child is great, and that marriage is a beautiful thing," she pointed at Chiya with a firm finger, "_Your_ job, is to become a more desirable woman for him."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "…have you fooled around with a man named Bart Lemming before..?"

"Clean the litter box, dishes, bathtub, and make his bed for him every day. That's your part in this. Do this and I can help you."

Chiya sighed very loudly at the sound of all the tasks, "Can't I just do one of those things..?"

Fiona rubbed her chin and hummed, "How were you at driving an F-Zero machine in the beginning?"

Chiya shrugged, "Pretty good, I guess, I only crashed a few times…"

"-and how are you now?"

"Amazing! Almost won a Grand Prix, plan on winning it this year!"

Fiona smirked and nodded, "The more you do these simple chores, the better and faster you'll get at it."

Chiya exhaled loudly and stood up, "Alright, fine, I'll do it; for Earl…" Fiona beamed at her and nodded, "Can I just finish doing this cropping tomorrow?"

"Of course, dear…"

The two stood up and came walking towards the door. Fiona chuckled softly and wrapped her arm around Chiya.

"Now, let's show Earl how two Flowers prepare a dish!"

Earl was sitting with a look of astonishment as Chiya placed several dishes of prepared food in front of him. He looked up at Chiya and Fiona, who had been working together to make dinner. He couldn't help but feel like royalty; Fiona was constantly rewarding him for chores, and Chiya was always comforting him as his lover. He practically had two blondes rubbing his feet.

Chiya gently placed a glass of milk down next to Earl with a gentle smile; Earl smiled back at her and nodded.

"Thank you."

Chiya sat down next to him and put her hands down on the table. Fiona sat adjacently from the two and put her hands together. Earl smirked as he looked back and forth at the two. The three began to eat moments later. As they all ate, Earl turned his head towards Chiya and grinned.

"How's your day been going Chiya?"

She lowered her eyebrows but smiled, "Pretty good, pretty good…"

"Chiya decided to come out and help me by raking the grass; that way, Michael and his friends can plant beautiful flowers there."

Earl hummed and nodded, "Yeah, I saw you doing something in the yard today," he slightly bowed to Chiya, "Very honorable of you, Chiya."

Chiya instantly felt a surge of energy go through her body upon hearing this. Part of her finally felt the joy of helping others; however, she couldn't feel completely satisfied considering this was a lie; she had done only about half of what she was supposed to do. Chiya lowered her eyebrows sadly with a quivering smile.

"Yeah, I think I'll get back to it early in the morning…"

Fiona smiled at her, Earl raised an eyebrow at her, "Early in the morning?" he closed his eyes and chuckled, "That'd be awesome if you could wake up a bit earlier, I miss you during the day."

Again, Chiya felt a burst of joy go through her body. Any sign of happiness from Earl seemed to have a strong effect on her, thus inspiring her to try harder.

"F- for sure! Maybe I can help you on Mom's vehicle…"

Fiona nodded approvingly at Chiya, seeing an immediate change in her attitude. Earl beamed at this and flailed his hands in the air.

"Well, I don't need your help on that. Pretty sure I restored it completely!" he said excitedly. Fiona widened her eyes at Earl's sudden obnoxiously loud attitude, she looked at Chiya, but found that she was stuck smiling at Earl, "I don't think I left a single piece of rust on your car; I think one of these days we should go buy some paint and color this thing."

Fiona chuckled and continued to eat, "A-ah, just like your father, Chiya…"

Chiya smirked and nodded, "Yeah, Dad would always talk about mechanic stuff…"

Earl sat back in his chair more calmly, "Sorry, it was just an exciting experience…"

Dinner was quickly interrupted as a phone began to ring. Fiona bobbed her head up in fright and looked back into the kitchen. The telephone made a massive comeback several years ago, once again returning to most households. Cellular devices remained the superior way to communicate, but telephones became a secondary place for people to make calls. Most often, telephones were used for business calls; but on Mysteria, only the government could make calls and receive calls…

Chiya's eyes widened as Fiona approached the telephone slowly. Earl was quickly frightened at the sight of both women panicking, he didn't understand how Mysterian laws were enforced, so he didn't know that this was indeed the Mysterian government calling.

"W- what could the government want with my mom..?"

Earl raised an eyebrow, "The government?"

Fiona cleared her throat and put the phone on speaker, "Hello, Fiona Flower speaking…"

Chiya was just waiting for the call to reveal that Seppuku was on the planet, or worse, reveal that Seppuku was on the phone. Earl gazed at Fiona with quivering eyes as she brought the telephone over to the table.

"Hello, Mrs. Flower. This is a call from the city of Engelland."

Fiona and Chiya exchanged glances, this was the city Chiya and Abigail enrolled in high school at. Chiya covered her mouth while trembling in fear. This was also the city Black Shadow had bombed, where Chiya's father had been struck by a shell.

"Yes, hello."

"We were informed that Chiya Flower has arrived on the planet for a family visit, is this correct?"

Fiona gasped slightly and looked at her; both Chiya and Earl exchanged nervous glances. She licked her lips and lowered her eyebrows, "Maybe…"

"The Engelland varsity soccer team will be playing against New Edinburgh in regionals tomorrow."

Chiya gasped loudly, "Oh my God…"

Earl stared at her in confusion. Earl knew that Chiya was a striker on the Engelland varsity soccer team; what he didn't know, was that the final game she ever played was a Engelland-New Edinburgh regionals game. Her team was defeated and her soccer career had come to an end. Now the two teams were facing each other again in the exact same scenario.

"We understand that Chiya holds an Engelland soccer record, and that her final game ever played was indeed against New Edinburgh many, many years ago."

"Yes..?" answered Fiona.

"Seeing as to how Chiya is a Mysterian hero because of F-Zero, we feel it would be fitting if the ex-soccer player comes to the game tomorrow as our special guest."

"Yes!" Chiya answered loudly.

Fiona hummed, "I suppose that would be fine…"

"Are you certain that she will come?"

Chiya beamed, "Can I bring my boyfriend?"

"Of course."

Chiya slapped her fist into her palm and chuckled, "I'll be there!"

"Thank you, Ms. Flower."

The person concluded the call with nothing more to say. Chiya now had an overly excited look on her face.

"Oh my gosh, it's like the greatest rematch ever established!"

Earl rubbed his chin, "A soccer game eh'?"

Fiona smiled, "Oh, Chiya, you're going to have a great time at the game."

Chiya sat back in her chair, instantly feeling like a teenager again, "This is going to be so awesome…"

"So we're talking high school soccer?" asked Earl.

"Yep."

Earl nodded and continued to eat, "You're right, this will be interesting; maybe you'll see some of your old classmates."

Chiya grunted and dipped her head down, Fiona glanced away from the two and rubbed her arm. Earl immediately felt that he said something wrong and quickly began to fabricate a way to change the subject.

"-or, maybe not…"

Fiona cleared her throat, "I want you two to shower well before you leave for that game."

Earl nodded, "Definitely, don't want to further humiliate Chiya in front of people with our odors."

Chiya rubbed the back of her head and sighed loudly, Fiona raised an eyebrow at Earl, "Further humiliate?"

"Yeah, the F-Zero TV incident?"

Fiona tilted her head with a confused look, "We only get the military approved F-Zero TV…"

Chiya slammed her fists down on the table, "Don't tell her!"

Fiona lowered her eyebrows and held her hands up, "Wait, wait, wait. Did something bad happen?"

"Earl!"

Earl shook negatively at Fiona, "Sorry, if Chiya doesn't want you to know, I must respect her wish."

Fiona quirked her mouth, but momentarily smirked, "That's fine, I admire you more for that."

About an hour after having dinner and a long discussion on casual matters, Chiya and Earl retired to their room once again. Earl was lying on his belly with his eyes closed, he had a taken back smile on his face as he groaned constantly. Chiya was on her knees behind him, giving him a back massage with the vibrator.

"Man, this is so strange, but I can't lie, it feels so good…"

"It's okay, Earl, this is how back massagers are supposed to make you feel!"

Earl slightly opened his eyes, "…right…"

Earl was truly feeling like a king the past few hours. He had worked most of the afternoon fixing Fiona's car, for what Fiona claimed was an act of good will and nothing else. To Earl, this simply wasn't true. The treatment he was getting from both Chiya and Fiona was incredible, half the time he had forgotten why Chiya and Earl were on Mysteria in the first place. He was given naturally made grape juice, complimented constantly, granted a hot shower, given the best dinner of his life, and lastly; he was getting a back massage-in an obscure way.

Chiya had set down the vibrator and was now rubbing his back with her bare hands. Chiya didn't have the slightest clue as to how a backrub worked, she was merely rubbing her palms on his back constantly, but Earl felt very relaxed none-the-less.

"You're such an amazing person, Chiya…"

A knocking could suddenly be heard at the door before she could respond. Chiya turned her head towards the door, "Come in."

Fiona entered the room holding Earl's leather jacket, both Chiya and Earl widened their eyes as it shined. Chiya continued to rub his back as they stared at the jacket. Fiona stopped in the middle of the room and smiled.

"Aw, what a precious sight…"

Earl smirked and looked away from Fiona, "What can I say, she's a natural man-pleaser."

Chiya raised an eyebrow at Fiona, "What did you do to Earl's jacket?"

Fiona folded the jacket and set it on Chiya's old dresser, "I went ahead and polished your leather jacket, dear."

Earl beamed at her and rose up slightly, "Oh, wow, thanks!"

Fiona closed her eyes with a smile, "It's the least I could do for fixing my vehicle."

Chiya was shocked to see how overjoyed Earl was by this, shock momentarily turned into irritation. She narrowed her eyes and rubbed Earl's head.

"Yeah, well, I'm going to be letting Earl have the shower first so he gets all of the hot water," she slowly looked up at Fiona angrily, "Also, I'm going to bring him breakfast in bed tomorrow."

Fiona shot back a somewhat insulting smirk, "Yeah, that's nice, dear…"

Earl had a happy look on his face, but he suddenly grunted as Chiya tightly wrapped her arms around him. She was now staring hostilely into Fiona's eyes while tightly holding Earl.

Fiona chuckled and turned around, proceeding to walk through the door. She closed the door behind her and left for bed. Chiya continued to tightly hold Earl with an angry look, Earl was now left somewhat disturbed. It was no secret to him what had just happened. Chiya was feeling challenged by her own mother in pampering Earl.

"U-uh, Chiya, you know that you're my favorite person, right?"

Chiya slowly narrowed her eyes again and nodded, "…right…"

Earl breathed in and flipped onto his back, he looked into Chiya's eyes and smirked, "Come on, I've been getting too much attention today; how about I massage you now?"

Mauser had suddenly jumped onto the bed with the two, Earl smiled and began to pet the cat softly. Chiya quirked her mouth and lowered her eyebrows; she truly wanted to take up his offer of the backrub, but now she felt that she needed to compete with her mother. Therefore, Chiya believed that the only way to keep up with Fiona would be to do favors for Earl and get nothing in return-including a back massage.

"No, I'm fine…"

Chiya fell back onto her pillow with a fairly sad look. She wasn't scared that her mother was trying to steal Earl from her, but she was scared that Earl would view her more positively than Chiya, and indeed end up viewing her as an incapable brat. She gritted her teeth as Earl laid down beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and exhaled happily.

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and quirked her mouth, "Earl…"

"Hm?"

She dipped her head down and sighed, "Um, have you ever had any regrets?" she slowly looked into his eyes sadly, "-about, us?"

"Us? You mean our relationship?"

"Yes, have you ever felt any regrets? Leaving your hobby of dating women for someone like me?"

"Never," he said strictly, Chiya raised an eyebrow at her, "Never, never, never. I never have, and I don't think I ever will."

"I haven't ever done anything to annoy you to the point where-"

"You're a nice person, you enjoy my company-a lot, and most importantly; you make me happy."

"Why?"

Earl widened his eyes and momentarily lowered his eyebrows, "Um, well…" Chiya instantly had a hurt expression on her face, "You and I just have great chemistry together. Sure, we have our differences, but we sure don't let them change the way we view each other."

He dropped his chin over her shoulder and closed his eyes, "Basically, I will never leave you. The only way you will ever be free of me, is if _you_ leave."

Chiya's eyes began to water as she shook negatively, "I'll never leave you, I promise, I promise…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and looked down at their feet, Mauser was sniffing Earl's sock.

"I keep forgetting that Mauser is here…"

Chiya launched herself up and cheered gleefully, "Mauser!"

A bar on Green Plant was full of loud customers, many were gambling, drinking, or simply talking. Many of the men were muscular, but none appeared to be hardcore criminals. The bartender was scrubbing a glass clean while whistling a tune aloud. Moments after setting a glass down, two men approached him, both with grins.

"We're trying to settle an argument. Mighty Gazelle-was he black or white before he became a cyborg?"

The bartender puckered his lips and shrugged, "I dunno'."

"Maybe he wasn't even a human, maybe, maybe he was some kind of alien-like Pico!"

The man's friend chuckled and shook negatively, "Of course he was a human, just look at him; he walks and talks like a human, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but come on, what kind of human gets injured so badly to the point that they need a new body, and lives?"

"Good question…"

The bar had suddenly been silenced as the entrance door had been kicked open. Everyone gasped upon seeing a dead man standing before them. Seppuku walked down the isle towards the bartender with his fedora tilted down. He had his assault rifle on his back and a very blank expression on his face. The three men at the counter were grunting constantly as the F-Zero racer approached them. He sat on a stool and put his arms down against the counter.

"L- Lieutenant Seppuku..?" the bartended muttered in amazement.

Seppuku pointed a finger up, "Just give me some wine; I can't risk getting drunk right now…"

A man put his hand on Seppuku's shoulder and laughed in amazement, "The Federation said that they took you down!"

Seppuku shrugged, "You'll find that I'm that one dog at the vet that won't stay dead after being euthanized."

The bartender slammed a glass of blue wine down in front of him, but was still staring at him in amazement, "How did you survive your execution!?"

Seppuku chuckled faintly and shook negatively, "A magician does not reveal his or her secret…"

The bartended smirked, "Well, regardless of what the Federation says, you're welcomed here, friend."

Seppuku in all actuality was the one who saved Green Plant the following year from Black Shadow. He did this by defeating Deathborn, one of Black Shadow's creations who was leading his robot army on the surface; after doing this, the Federation was easily able to pull the plug on his doomsday weapon. Seppuku was a hero on Green Plant.

"Good, because I need someone to help me."

Several patrons instantly leapt around him, offering their service to the famous racer. Seppuku dipped his head down in irritation as more people were jumping around him as he had planned. He exhaled loudly and took a sip of his wine.

"What I need, is a pilot, someone who can simply drop me off at Fire Field…"

Several of the patrons had suddenly backed off, as not everybody owned a private vessel. Three men remained around him, but only one had a look of interest at his request.

"Is there a reward for me bringing you?"

Seppuku shrugged, "Sure, I guess…"

The bartender raised an eyebrow, "Why Fire Field? There's no upcoming race there."

"I'm searching for a ship, I've already confirmed that it isn't on this planet."

"Who's ship?"

Seppuku shook negatively and took another sip, "Can't say."

The man beamed at him and nodded, "Well, uh, I'm your man! I can even bring your F-Zero machine along, if you still have it…"

"Perfect…"

Seppuku was getting closer and closer to tracking down Chiya and Earl. His next destination was Fire Field, but after he would discover that they were not there, he would be heading for Mysteria next. Ultimately, he would spot their docked ship at the Mysterian starport, and from that point it would only be a matter of time before he found them. The reasoning for going to Fire Field before the more obvious planet is because Mysteria would be a very difficult planet to sneak into.

He was still days away from finding the two, but at this rate, Chiya and Earl either had to hide somewhere else, or pray…

To be continued…


	10. Lap 9

==Lap 9=

Late in the morning, Earl and Chiya stood together outside of the house, Chiya had been working on raking most of the morning. Water filled both Chiya and Earl's eyes as they stood in the small garden Fiona already had planted in the backyard. Chiya sat down in the flowers with Earl and exhaled loudly as she wiped her eye. In front of her were two gravestones, one was about 7 years old and had the name _Robert Flower_ in bold text. The other stone had freshly planted roses around it, the name _Chiya Rose_ was carefully sketched in with sharp italics.

Neither Robert nor Rose was buried here. Robert's body was seized by the Mysterian government shortly after Chiya escaped from facing trial; Dark Rose's body had been reduced to ashes and had been spread on a Red Canyon cliff. Regardless, Chiya felt that this was the true resting place for both Robert and Rose—their true home.

"I miss them so much…" Chiya muttered sadly.

Earl sighed and nodded, "Yeah, feels like just yesterday I had Rose constantly trying to kill you and have sex with me."

Chiya glanced over at her father's stone and lowered her eyebrows, "I wonder what Dad would have thought of Rose…"

"Probably dislike her. We only respect Rose because we knew that inside she was a good person, it takes a lot of forgiveness to think that way," Chiya gave him a confused look, "I only base this off of the stories you tell me of your father; he sounded like a fairly strict person."

Chiya nodded, "Like a more forgiving and less offensive version of Seppuku…"

Earl nodded and closed his eyes, "Sounds a lot better than my dad," Earl shot his eyes open and wiggled his fingers in the air, "Son, you better get a job as the Chairman's personal mechanic, or you'll dishonor the entire Bendek name!"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "Was he really like that?"

"Eh, I was exaggerating a bit there, but not too far from the truth," he narrowed his eyes and shook negatively, "God knows what that man must think of me now…"

She nodded and looked down at a rose, there was a small insect crawling on a petal. She sighed and closed her eyes again.

"I often fantasize about what kind of life we would be living had Rose survived and seen the light…"

Earl nodded slightly, then looked over at her with a smile, "But it's like you always say; you drank a small portion of her blood, so in a way, you two are reunited as one."

"That's true…"

Chiya remained silent for several moments, she momentarily grunted with a smile and turned gleefully towards him, "Tomorrow's Christmas Eve…"

"Yep!"

Chiya launched herself up and exhaled joyfully, "Well, I'm quite parched…"

Earl held her hand and began walking towards the entrance to the house, "I don't blame you. You've been doing yard work all morning."

"M-mhm!"

"I gotta' say, Chiya, I'm very proud of you."

The two entered the house and proceeded towards the kitchen together, Chiya was swinging his hand around as they walked. Fiona was standing in the kitchen washing her hands. Earl sat down at the table and yawned loudly; Chiya sat down on the other end and raised an eyebrow.

"I saw that you were observing the roses Michael planted around the gravestone," the two looked over at her; Fiona had a faint smile, "I thought it was a beautiful idea too."

Chiya brought her hands together and cleared her throat, "Where's Mauser?"

Fiona quirked her mouth and pointed down the hallway, "Well, he's made himself comfortable in _my_ bed."

Chiya chuckled, "Classic Mauser…"

Earl sniffed the air a few times and cringed slightly, "Alright, we really need to go clothes shopping…"

Chiya sniffed her armpit and momentarily cringed as well, "Yes, let's do that soon."

Fiona turned towards the two and wiped her hands on her sweater, "If you two are looking for cheap clothing to get you by while I wash your current clothing, I suggest searching the Giveaway Market in New Edinburgh."

Chiya grunted, "B- but isn't that the place the really poor goes for clothing?"

"Yes."

Earl nodded, "Sounds good, like you said, we just need something to get us by until our regular clothing is washed."

Chiya rubbed the back of her head, "Can't we just wash our clothes now and skip clothes shopping?"

Fiona raised an eyebrow, "But what would you wear, dear?"

Chiya puckered her lips and dipped her head down as she thought, "Our undies..?"

Earl smirked, "I'd rather not…"

Chiya clapped her hands together, "Come on! It'd be funny!"

"Not when you two show up to this regionals match tonight in your underwear…" said Fiona.

"I see your point…"

Earl crossed his arms and smirked, "Then we better get going."

Fiona whistled and threw Earl her vehicle keys, Chiya widened her eyes at this and grunted. Earl looked up at her intrigued.

"You're going to let us drive your vehicle?"

Fiona nodded, "Sure, wouldn't hurt to test drive it anyways."

Chiya grunted again in offense, "Why are you letting him drive your vehicle and not me?"

"Earl knows more about vehicles than you, dear."

Chiya crossed her arms and pouted angrily, "…I'm the bloody professional racer here…"

Not much later, Earl and Chiya found themselves driving around the city of New Edinburgh; which was also the team Engelland would be facing against. Earl scanned the roads with a frightened look as it seemed every single block had at least one armed female soldier patrolling. He knew that the crime rate of Mysteria must have been record low. Chiya exhaled as she stared at a brown haired soldier walking with her assault rifle.

"I can't bear it, Earl…" he slightly glanced over at her, she had a panicked look, "I feel that if I don't win over Princia's respect in the Grand Prix and ally with her, the two planets might end up at war in the future again, and many of these innocent women will likely perish fighting the Federation warmonger-" she stopped herself and closed her eyes tightly, "I mean, not the- yeah, the Federation…"

"A war starts because of diplomacy, not racing. I don't think you have anything to fear; but I agree, aligning yourself with her may be an interesting idea. Just don't get down and kiss her feet."

"Then we have Lily Flyer, who is in the Federation…" she widened her eyes and gasped, "D- does that mean Lily is gonna' have to fight Seppuku!?"

Earl rubbed his chin, "Ouch…"

Seppuku had trained Lily while he worked as a Lieutenant Detective, Lily had grown very fond of him and vice-versa. Seppuku always viewed Lily as his daughter and had originally hoped to turn Chiya into a fierce fighting machine like her—but he clearly failed. Lily shared a sense of opposition to Jody and was more biased towards Seppuku; this rose the question of whether Lily would side with Jody or Seppuku on the track.

"That's a tough one for Lily, it's either side with her father-figure, or work alongside Jody and try to kill him."

Chiya tapped her fingers on her cheek a few times as she thought deeply, "Wish we could find out what's been going on in Mute City since we left."

"For all we know, Seppuku may have already been comprehended."

She lowered her eyebrows and hummed as she thought about this, "Turn left, here…"

The two several minutes later found themselves in a clothing area, Earl was now wearing brown pants and a shiny red dress shirt. The dress shirt looked great, but the quality of the fabric was terrible and could rip easily; hence the reason it was so cheap. Earl quirked his mouth and pulled on the brown pants, it was tight but not uncomfortable.

"Are you almost dressed?" asked Earl.

Chiya was dressing up in a changing area, unlike Earl, she had picked out a large variety of clothing. She was to buy only one upper and lower piece of clothing along with underwear and socks. Earl was becoming impatient by the moment, wondering why Chiya felt it was necessary to try on so many inexpensive pieces of clothing.

The door unlocked, and Earl's ears pranced up immediately. Chiya took a few steps out of the changing room with a quivering frown. She was wearing green pants and a blue long-sleeved shirt. Earl smirked at her and clapped his hands together.

"Beautiful."

"Lies! I look like a complete idiot!"

Earl shook negatively, "Chiya, this is how all poor people look who desire good hygiene."

She growled and stomped her feet down, "An F-Zero racer should not look like this; I look as idiotic as Zoda!"

Earl shook negatively, "You'd need to put on some clown shoes before you look as idiotic as him…"

She walked past him while holding her dirty clothing and sighed, "Let's just go, this has been a terrible day so far…"

Earl grabbed her hand and smirked, "Hold on, Chiya," she looked back at him angrily, "We can't walk out of the store wearing this stuff, we need to change back into-"

Chiya gasped loudly, "I have to get back into that soggy clothing!?"

"Yes."

Chiya cringed with a quivering frown, "…I don't want to put that underwear back on…"

Earl walked back into the changing area with her, "Well, you just have to until we get home."

She groaned and walked back into the changing room. Earl rubbed the back of his head and entered his changing room as well.

Fiona later stood absolutely still with a somewhat disturbed expression, she blinked a few times at the clothing the two were holding. Chiya glared at her and rolled her eyes.

"What, what is it, Mom..?" she asked hostilely.

Fiona pointed towards Earl, "Your new clothes, it's so-o…"

Earl smirked and shrugged, "Don't worry, she only has to wear that stuff until our usual attire is washed."

"No, not her clothing," Earl grunted and widened his eyes, "Chiya picked very nice clothing, I was referring to your clothing."

Chiya raised an eyebrow and looked at the clothing he was holding, Earl rubbed his chin, "What's wrong with the clothing I picked?"

"Um-m, well…" she lowered her eyebrows as she stared at the shiny red dress shirt, "Are you and Chiya going dancing afterwards, o-or…"

"No, I just liked how shiny it looked."

"-and you picked brown trousers to go with it?"

"Why not?"

Fiona and Chiya both turned away from Earl, he now had a discouraged look on his face, "Maybe I shouldn't come along…"

Chiya grabbed his hand and shook negatively, "No, no, it'll be fine…" she closed her eyes and smiled, "I want to present my awesome boyfriend to all of my teachers."

"Four of your teachers were executed by the Mysterian government four years ago."

Chiya widened her eyes and dropped her arms down like noodles. Fiona clapped her hands together and exhaled, "Well, I guess you two should hit the shower then."

Earl nodded and threw his clothing over his shoulder, "Yeah, alright-"

Fiona grabbed Earl's shoulder quickly and grunted, "Actually, Earl, I think Chiya should shower first," she cleared her throat and rubbed her forehead, "Chiya smells the worst."

"What!?"

Earl quirked his mouth, "I don't think she smells that bad…"

"Stop being so modest, dear," she pointed at Chiya and lowered her eyebrows, "Chiya, stop offending me with your stench and get in the shower."

Chiya assumed an offended look, but nodded and turned around towards the hallway. Earl had a confused look on his face and prepared to leave for Chiya's room; but Fiona grabbed his other shoulder. Earl widened his eyes and grunted as she sat him down in a kitchen chair.

He turned his head towards her with frightened eyes, "U—uh, Mrs. Flower, this seems a bit-"

"Please, take a seat for a moment, dear…"

Earl could tell by the tone of her voice that something strange was about to happen. Sending Chiya away from the two put initial bad thoughts in his head as to what she might want with him, but he exhaled none-the-less and nodded.

"How can I help you?"

Fiona sat on the other end of the table and crossed her fingers together as she stared into his eyes intimidatingly. His eyes were slightly quivering, and she could tell. She quirked her mouth as she slowly moved his eyes down to his chest, then to his waist. She found that the vibrator Chiya believed to be a back massager was sticking out of his jacket pocket slightly. She smirked upon discovering this and hummed.

"Earl, I understand it's none of my business, so you may decline to answer if you wish…" Earl jolted his head up and widened his eyes, he somehow knew that this was going to be relevant to his relationship with Chiya, "That sex toy you have in your pocket…"

Earl grunted loudly and looked down, he didn't even know that he had it in his jacket. He gritted his teeth and rubbed the back of his head.

"U-uh…"

"Is this silly back massager story just a cover up for the obvious?"

Earl gasped and shook negatively, "No! I swear, she thinks it's a back massager."

"-and why does one as honorable as you possess such a thing."

Earl dipped his head down and grunted, "Chiya found it in Seppuku's desk…"

Fiona closed her eyes and exhaled, "Ah, I thought that toy looked familiar…"

Earl gasped and practically fell over, "O- oh God!"

"Aside from the vibrator, I must ask, do you think Chiya is an overly sexual person?"

"No, absolutely not!"

"Does she play with-"

Earl was now turning red and turned his head away from her, "I- I- I don't feel comfortable speaking about Chiya's sexuality without her consent…"

Fiona smiled at him and nodded, "That's good, very kindhearted and honorable of you."

Earl was already desperately trying to fabricate a way to escape from this conversation, but he felt that any attempt to leave the table so early would be suspicious. Fiona was tapping her finger down on the table constantly as she hummed.

"My daughter is _very_ fond of you…"

Earl lowered his eyelids and sighed, "I know…"

Fiona closed her eyes and exhaled loudly, "I'll get down to the chase. I understand that many couples will not go to the extreme with each other for, what, years?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and grunted, "My parents didn't have me for five years into their relationship…"

Fiona nodded, "Understandable, but what is confusing me; is that you two seem to be progressing much faster as far as love goes," she rolled her eyes and shrugged, "You sleep in the same bed here, massage each other, live together…" she breathed in and slightly opened her eyes.

Earl was practically hiding under the table at this point, only his shoulders and head were visible to her.

"Honey, if you have some kind of infection _down there_ or anything, I'll gladly pitch in to help cure this."

Earl glanced away from her with sad eyes, "God, no, I'm a clean person…" he brought his hands together and sighed, "Look, I know Chiya would like to do this soon; she's been dropping fairly heavy hints on me for almost a year now…" he crossed his arms and looked down, "I even got to touch the bottom of her chest while we were locked up together on Magica…"

"I see…"

Earl sighed and held his knees, "The truth is, I really want to do this with her, but I'm too scared…"

Fiona glanced over at the hallway as the sound of the shower turning on could be heard. She turned back towards him and raised an eyebrow.

"Scared?"

"Please don't tell Chiya about any of this, Mrs. Flower…"

Fiona nodded and held her hand up, "This is strictly between you and me, I merely desire to help you, dear."

Earl closed his eyes and held his crotch, "My upper body muscles are basically just compensating for…"

"Ah," he quickly looked up at her with a frightened look, "The same could probably be said for Chiya; her breasts compensate for a small area as well."

"Yes, you told me about that…"

"So I did, so I did…"

Earl grasped his forehead and leaned forward while growling, "I don't want to be laughed at by her, and even if my size is compatible with hers, I really, really don't want to hurt her…"

Fiona hummed and rubbed her chin, "I respect that…"

"-and that's only the worst-case scenario, what if I accidentally impregnate her!?"

"Chiya loves babies, you'd be fine."

"Yeah, but jeez, I don't know anything about raising a child…"

"It's a learning experience, people like me would help you, and eventually the journey of raising a child would become automatic."

Earl sighed loudly and shook negatively, "Even though I do want to have sex with her, I don't know how to go about that. I'm certainly not going to push it onto her, I want her to push it onto me."

Fiona lowered her eyebrows and hummed, "I see…"

"I get that it's more common for the man to request this, but I just want the moment to go the way she wants it, whether it's around a fire or in a field of flowers, I want her to control that."

Fiona nodded, "Alright, I understand."

"-and the whole humility thing, I don't think I could proceed to pleasure her if she began to laugh at me because of my size-"

"What about marriage?"

Earl widened his eyes, "Marriage?"

"That's the one thing any girl who's in a great relationship will wait for, the proposal. That's something you can't wait for her to do, it's proper for the man to propose marriage, not the woman."

Earl closed his eyes and nodded, "I know…"

"Most of all, Earl, all I can tell you is to relax. If Chiya laughs at you, you laugh at her. That's the benefit of both of you having small areas."

"Jeez, that would be mean…"

"Don't feel pressured, if she is giving any obvious signs that she wants it, just do it; get it off your mind by accommodating her request."

Earl dipped his head down and quirked his mouth, "…I just want to make her happy…"

"Make who happy?"

Fiona and Earl widened their eyes as Chiya came back into the kitchen wrapped only in a white towel. Earl blinked a few times at her and sat in his chair more firmly.

"Y- you, uh, for Christmas; I need to get you the perfect present this time…"

Chiya beamed at him, "I can't wait for Christmas…"

Fiona exhaled and nodded, "I suppose I'll have to acquire presents for you two."

Chiya clapped her hands excitedly, "Finally, Christmas with family!"

Earl smiled and dipped his head down, "You're done showering, already?"

"I wanted you to have most of the hot water."

Fiona brought her hands together and smiled, "Aw-w…"

"Well, I appreciate it," he stood up and grabbed his new clothing, "Time to get this disco clothing on…"

A fairly large crowd was present at the Engelland soccer field, it was now very dark out; however, lights were shining down onto the field. Chiya and Earl were up in the stands preserved for teachers and coaches; but these two were special guests. Many of the fans were constantly looking up at Chiya excitedly; it was practically a law to be a Chiya Flower fan on Mysteria.

Chiya and Earl sat close to each other as they looked down at the field; Chiya was very shy of all the attention, but even one as shy as her couldn't resist the popularity she was earning.

"I can't believe I'm here again…"

Earl nodded with a smirk, "It'd be a real treat if your team could pull off a win here tonight."

"I know! I want to see it happen, I want to see my old team go where I couldn't."

Soccer was by far the most popular sport on Mysteria. The national team of Mysteria had won the Galaxy Cup many times, only to fall immediately after in the Universe Cup. The most tragic defeat for Mysteria was a 4-0 loss to Earth five years ago in the Universe Cup—the head coach for the national team was executed as a result.

"I often wonder if I could have done it, had I won regionals," she closed her eyes and smirked, "Could I have been scouted and put on our national team?"

Earl looked down at her foot and beamed, "Well, you do have a pretty nifty foot…"

"I'll go ahead and have a little ego on one thing; I'm positive that I was one of the leading strikers on my planet. I know for a fact that I at least had a chance at being put into the team."

Earl crossed his arms and nodded, "Well, you can race for your planet now."

Chiya nodded with a gentle smile and put her hands on her waist. The crowd cheered as the players walked onto the field; the Engelland players were wearing their Home colors: Blue and white. The New Edinburgh team was wearing silver uniforms with green metallic-like streaks. Chiya rubbed her chin and nodded approvingly.

"Those uniforms sure look different now…"

Chiya still had her soccer uniform, but it was much blander than what the girls on the field were wearing now. The uniform Chiya had was her Away gear.

The girls got on the center of the field and proceeded to do brief exercises, mostly involving stretches. Chiya scanned the area for the current striker; she momentarily spotted a fairly short teenage girl with a black ponytail. She smiled at the girl as she practiced her kicking power.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the thirteenth game of the season; the regionals match between the varsity teams of Engelland and New Edinburgh."

Chiya beamed and brought her hands together.

"Tonight we have a special guest in the audience, former Edinburgh striker and current Mysterian F-Zero racer; Chiya Flower!"

Everyone began to clap for her; she beamed and dipped her head down as even the Away crowd cheered for her. Earl momentarily clapped playfully as well. The fans all stopped seconds later and turned towards the field.

Chiya rubbed her chin for a few moments as the players took their positions. She swallowed nervously; she was hoping that her presence would inspire her old team to perform better. Everyone stood up and saluted a giant screen that was above the announcers booth. Earl and Chiya momentarily got up and did the same. The screen displayed the blue Socialist star of Mysteria as the anthem proceeded to play. Earl had a slightly disturbed expression, feeling that he was technically praising the universe's most notorious and corrupt planet. Mysteria despised Earth; therefore he was truly acting traitorous by doing this.

Several minutes had gone by and the score was 1-2 with New Edinburgh leading. Chiya had a nervous look on her face as she watched her team struggle to retain possession of the ball.

One player swiftly passed the ball to another, that girl rushed down the field while trying to counter an opposing player. She was quickly being forced towards the sideline and was running out of options. She kicked the ball aimlessly up into the air simply to avoid the cornering; the Engelland crowd began to shout loudly in disapproval at this decision. Fortunately, the ball landed and was quickly snapped by another Engelland player. She proceeded to rush deep into the opposing territory with a much pressured look. It was no secret to anyone that the New Edinburgh team was clearly better trained and skilled.

Chiya bit on her finger as she watched the lone player work her way through the tight defense.

"Where the bloody Hell is that support?"

Earl looked around the field with a confused look; it seemed that the players were all near the net, rather than trying to help keep the ball. Chiya clenched her fists tightly and grunted softly as she watched the two teams go at each other.

The player did a soft kick to send the ball forth; she rushed past the coverage and got hold of the ball again. She quickly kicked it over to the black haired striker, the striker stuck her tongue out and quickly shot the ball towards the net. The goalie leapt high into the air to stop the ball, but ended up hitting her head on the bar. The crowd panicked loudly as she instantly fell to the ground rubbing her forehead. The ball went straight into the net.

A mix bag of booing and cheering engulfed the field; Chiya was shaking her fists constantly as she gazed at the downed goalie. Two referees ran up to the goalie to determine whether this would count as a goal, as in this time period; such a mistake could possibly spare New Edinburgh the opposing point game, but only if the goalie could prove that she was hurt.

The goalie made the simple mistake of standing back up, immediately confirming that she was alright. The crowd went wild as she did this and the two referees launched their hands up in the air to confirm the point gain.

Chiya let out a whistle, "She shoulda' faked the injury."

"Wouldn't that be unsportsman-like?"

"Assuming that they want to win this thing," she rubbed her chin and closed her eyes, "Actually, that would be a bad move considering we're only just nearing the half. A replacement goalie would put them in trouble."

The announcer could be heard slurping his drink, "Looks like that sudden point gain has put a bit of a morale loss on some of the Edinburgh players!"

Chiya smirked and nodded approvingly, "Sink another point, and we'll have them trembling."

Halftime had ended, and the two teams were now close to the end. The score was still 2-2, it was truly anyone's game. Chiya was very nervous, and all of the players on the field were clearly scared. Fortunately, Engelland had the ball and was deep in the opposing territory. The girls struggled to get the ball around, there was only about four minutes left of the game. Many of the girls on the field were shouting orders to one another, it was impossible to make out what any of them were saying.

The girl with the ball was quickly cornered by three players; her teammates were completely opened, but she was trapped. She gasped and kicked the ball up into the air; but she immediately twisted her leg and fell down after doing so. She roughly hit the ground and had one of the opposing players fall onto her. An Engelland player acquired the ball, but the referee had already blown the whistle.

Chiya widened her eyes and gasped; the girl held her leg and proceeded to wail loudly as she held her knee. The players all looked amongst each other as the player cried loudly. Chiya got watery eyed by the sight of this and felt forced to look away. The injury was very serious, and unfortunately, this was the only other striker that was on the field. This left only the black haired girl—who appeared petrified. Both teams left the field to take advantage of the injury and have a brief timeout.

Chiya was biting on her finger as medical personnel surrounded the downed player. Earl glanced over at her and quirked his mouth.

"What position did she play?"

"I'm pretty sure that was the striker who was always on the right field…"

Mere moments after saying this, a hand grasped her shoulder. She grunted and turned her head, revealing a very familiar face. An old man in a military uniform looked her in the eyes with lowered eyebrows.

"M- Mr. Scharnofski..?"

This was Chiya's math teacher, who greatly disliked her as a student.

"Chiya, we need you down by the team quickly!"

She gasped and widened her eyes, "W- what!? I can't get on the field!"

"Our only striker is having a breakdown right now, we need help calming her down or our team is going to sink faster than a boulder."

Chiya didn't understand, but she nodded and got up none-the-less. Earl watched in awe as the two ran off, leaving him alone in the stands. He looked back down at the injured player, they seemed to be having issues getting her off the ground; but this was only buying both teams more time to plan.

Chiya was rushed past the Engelland players by Mr. Scharnofski, she widened her eyes at the sight of the teary eyed black haired striker. She couldn't have been older than 17. The irony of this was that Chiya concluded her soccer career as a 17 year old.

Chiya knelt down by the crying striker, she looked back up at Mr. Scharnofski, but he merely swished his hand at her frantically. Chiya exhaled quickly and put her hands on the girl's knees.

"What's wrong?"

The girl gasped at the sight of the celebrity, but this wasn't stopping her eyes from streaming tears. The rest of the team appeared very shocked that Chiya was within their presence. The girl barred her teeth tightly and grasped her head with both hands.

"I'm going to mess up! I know I'm going to!"

Chiya frowned, "Why's that?"

"I can't do this alone! My entire team needs me to do this, everything is on my shoulders!"

Chiya whistled nervously and shook negatively, "It'll be okay, it'll be okay…"

"We're screwed!"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, suddenly feeling a surge of authority, "No, you only are if you tell yourself that," the girl slowly looked into Chiya's blue eyes and tried to hold her sobbing in, "This is as far as I ever got this team when I was in charge; and I failed to perform well enough," she grabbed the girl's back and nodded, "You need to reach for the stars and be the stronger person…"

"H- how!?"

Chiya waved at the opposing team, many of them were glancing over at Chiya from across the field, "Each and every one of those girls are scared, probably ready to wet themselves at any moment; they know that the stakes are high. If they lose, they go home losers," she clenched her fist and shook it at the striker, "Think ahead of the game, plan how you're going to retain the lead right after you score; not how you're going to get the ball back after you mess up."

"I can't screw up!"

"You won't, this is a game that is lost as a team; if you try your best and still lose, the team didn't perform hard enough."

She smiled and patted the girl's back, "You have about two minutes left; I mean that's, like, five hundred seconds or something!" Mr. Scharnofski sighed and face palmed, "Don't forget, you have just as good of a chance as that one girl did to get a point."

Chiya smiled and held her hand up, "Come on then, give me some fingers!"

The girl smiled and slapped her a high five. The other players momentarily gathered around the striker and gave her high fives as well. Chiya crossed her arms and smirked at the squad of players.

The referee came back and signaled for the players to resume playing about two minutes later. Everyone deployed onto the field, Chiya decided to stay by the bench rather than rejoin Earl. She sat down next to Mr. Scharnofski and exhaled nervously. He looked down at her and smirked.

"That was very good of you, Chiya."

She smiled at him, "Thanks, Mr. Scharnofski."

He quirked his mouth and looked towards the players, "Your mathematical skills are still God awful…"

Two minutes remained; the striker was still very scared but was forcing a look of confidence onto her face. Her opponents all appeared petrified, understanding that the end of their season very well could be in front of them. The ball was passed to a player in the opposing territory; the striker licked her lips while staying perfectly open. The clock was going down by the second, and the morale of both sides dropped drastically every moment that went by. The girl covering the striker appeared frightened most of all. The goalie was trembling greatly and was keeping her eyes strictly on the ball.

Chiya held her clenched fist up to her mouth and lowered her eyebrows as she waited for a decisive moment for the ball to come to the striker. Both sides were competing well against each other, it certainly wasn't the blowout game Chiya had endured so many years ago. It was almost as if F-Zero had completely vanished from her life for these few moments; as if she had always been tagging along with her team all these years. Part of her wondered why Fiona didn't come along.

The ball was sent high into the air and the striker widened her eyes in shock. A player caught the ball and immediately rocketed it towards her, she gritted her teeth and immediately stomped down on the ball to catch it. She kicked it forward quickly to evade the player covering her.

Chiya looked up at the clock and lowered her eyebrows nervously; she didn't want this girl to go through the same pain she went through when she lost this very same game.

The striker nearly tripped as she got to the center of the field, she quickly spun around and kicked the ball towards the net at an incredible speed. The goalie gasped and leapt into the air, the ball roughly slammed into her breasts and bounced back down the center. The striker gasped loudly and charged towards the center with several other players tailing her. She leapt a short distance forwards and cracked at the ball aimlessly with her forehead. The goalie quickly got off of her knees and flailed her arm up into the air to stop it. She slapped the ball successfully, however, it bounced once it hit the ground and rolled behind her. The crowd went insane as the ball simply rolled behind her and touched the back of the net.

Chiya leapt up and clapped loudly in amazement, "Yes!"

The striker was left with a look of shock, there was only about thirteen seconds left on the clock and they were now ahead. The goalie instantly broke out into tears as she had completely ruined the game for New Edinburgh with a simple mistake. All of the Engelland players backed away from the net as they hurried towards the Engelland side. There was still time to score, but ultimately, the ball was intercepted by an Engelland player and rushed towards the opposing side again. The striker sprinted across the field, hoping to nab one more point. The ball was passed to her, she kicked it towards the net again; but the goalie blocked it.

She slid and fell onto her knees quickly as the final whistle was blown; Engelland had won the destined rematch. Chiya stretched her arms into the air ecstatic by the outcome. It was an early Christmas miracle for her. The striker was immediately swarmed by her teammates and was being pampered. Regardless of the two points that seemed unfair to the other team-Engelland had won.

The team later stood on the sidelines with a few players being interviewed; the striker was getting the most attention. Chiya was still sitting on the team bench with a few interviewers around her; but many of them were trying to interview her about F-Zero.

The striker rubbed her hair with a gleeful grin on her face.

"It was a do or die game, the other team had two strikers, you were the last one on your team. Are you feeling that luck played a role here?"

The striker shook negatively, "I couldn't have done it without Chiya, I will always remember how the biggest Mysterian celebrity approached me tonight and inspired me to move forward. I'm not sure I woulda' had the confidence to do what I did without her."

"Are you a Chiya Flower F-Zero fan then?"

She beamed and nodded swiftly, "Heck yeah, I am!"

Chiya was getting several photos taken of her, one held a device up to her and cleared his throat.

"How does this win feel?"

Chiya smiled, "I'm so happy that I got to see my team win the game I had hoped to win so many years ago; I have confidence that this team can win the championship, if not at least give the team that does win a hard fight."

"How does it feel having your title finally stolen?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "My title..?"

"Yes, for more than seven years you have been viewed as the Engelland star player for holding the school's accuracy record. You had a forty-nine percent accuracy rating on getting points, that final shot put this girl ahead of you with a fifty-one percent accuracy record."

Chiya blinked a few times, "I'm not in the Engelland hall of fame anymore?"

"You will be, but this girl has officially topped you."

Chiya lowered her eyelids sadly, but moments into thinking she got a smile and looked up, "I'm proud to pass the flame down to this girl, I'm a celebrity F-Zero racer now; I'll gladly accept that I've been bested..."

The game was over and everyone had left the game. Chiya and Earl were now driving home after such an exhilarating game. Earl had left the game shortly after Chiya left him, so he missed the dramatic ending. Chiya was overjoyed by the victory, she hadn't complained about her seemingly dull attire the entire time. Earl didn't understand just how much this win meant to Chiya, but he could tell that it was the highlight of her day.

"I'm just so happy for my team, we deserved this win."

Earl nodded, "Yeah, but I bet you lost some respect from New Edinburgh fans and players."

"Oh well."

Earl chuckled and turned on the bright lights of the vehicle; Chiya glanced over at him with a confused look.

"Why did you leave the game early?"

Earl smiled and shrugged, "I was out getting you a Christmas present."

She gasped and turned her head back, "What, really!? What'd you get me!?"

Earl wiggled his finger negatively at her with a smirk, "You'll have to wait and find out…"

Chiya continued to stare into his eyes with an anxious look, "Y- you know, Christmas is officially at twelve in the morning tomorrow, right."

"Yeah."

"So, I get to open my present right when the fifty-nine turns into zeroes…"

Earl chuckled, "Yeah, I suppose…"

Chiya turned away from him and widened her eyes. _Shoot, I don't have a present for him…_ The irony of this was that the previous year Chiya had given him the best present he could ever ask for, but he hadn't gotten her anything. She turned towards him slowly and smiled.

"You better get ready, because my present is going to be so amazing…"

Earl smirked, "Really?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously, "You bet…"

"Mom! Mom!"

Fiona gasped and covered herself up in her blanket, "Chiya!"

Chiya slammed the door behind her and flailed her arms in the air wildly, "I need cash!"

"Cash?"

"Money! Money!"

Fiona was once again in bed, Chiya had immediately been faced with the problem that it was just about Christmas Eve and she had no money to get Earl a present. Fiona hummed and scratched the back of her head.

"Did Engelland win, dear?"

"Yes, amazing night, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. I need money!"

Fiona lowered her eyebrows in frustration and hooked her bra on; she then lowered her blanket and put her sweater back on.

"Why on God's Mysteria are you asking _me_ for money?"

Chiya dropped her arms down and frowned, "I didn't get Earl a present for Christmas…"

"A-ah…" she shrugged at Chiya, "Why not just ask him for a small handout?"

She lowered her eyelids and sighed, "I don't want him to know that I forgot…"

Fiona quirked her mouth, "Why not give him a present that doesn't require money?"

Chiya bobbed her head up and widened her eyes, "Like what?"

"Well, I guess if you were confident and brave enough, you could propose giving him an HJ."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "What's that?"

Fiona glanced away from her and shook negatively, "E-eh, actually, I don't think Earl's much into that stuff…"

Chiya rubbed her forehead with a frantic look, "I would make out with him, but we do that too often now to be considered a gift…"

Fiona shrugged with a smile, "Just enjoy a romantic night with him, become his slave for Christmas."

"S- slave..?"

"Yep, do whatever he wants…"

Chiya beamed and nodded, "Yeah, okay!"

Fiona nodded at her and smirked, "Now, you look more into that; Mommy's gotta' finish something up now."

Chiya nodded and backed away towards the door, "Okay, good-night, Mom!"

She closed the door and left Fiona alone again. She lowered her eyebrows and growled.

"I have got to put a lock on that door…"

Seppuku kicked open the door to yet another bar, this time on Fire Field. This bar was nothing like the one on Green Plant, there were very dark looking figures in the bar. Seppuku's scarf blew in the air as he immediately scanned the bar for a specific person. After looking around for a few moments, the person came into sight; but this was someone he hadn't ever had anything to do with up until this point. Everyone was staring at Seppuku, he swung his hand forth swiftly and pointed.

"You, I need your help…"

Across the bar was a green alien holding a dark green sniper rifle with a red lensed scope. The alien turned his head towards Seppuku and blinked a few times. He was in an orange suit and had several mechanical tubes connecting to his neck and head. He had two bodyguards beside him of the same alien race—these aliens were blue, however. This was Pico—one of the four original F-Zero racers, and an expert hitman.

"Lieutenant Seppuku," he said quickly.

Seppuku stomped his foot down onto Pico's table and gave him a strict look, "I want you to sneak me onto Mysteria."

Pico chuckled for about a second, "You must be harder to kill than Goroh makes out."

Seppuku smirked, "I warned the bat to chain my coffin up; but of course, she ignored my advice…"

Pico nodded, "What makes you think I'll help you? I could hand you over to the Federation and probably get rewarded…"

"You could do that…" Seppuku snapped his fingers with a smirk, "-or I could guarantee you ten million of the prize money when I win the Grand Prix this year."

Pico shook negatively, "How do I know that you'll win?"

"I've nearly won two times in a row, I'm bound to win this time…" he chuckled and crossed his arms, "Besides, the Federation would arrest both you and me. Face it, you won't make a single credit off of them."

Pico crossed his arms and slowly nodded, somewhat respecting the man. He crossed his hands together and leaned towards Seppuku.

"When do we leave..?" 

To be continued…


	11. Lap 10

==Lap 10=

"Attention!" shouted Jody.

Tanaka and Dr. Stewart stood straight as Jody's hair blew with the wind. The three were in a field somewhere in Japan, however there were large walls surrounding the area. They were inside a secret Federation military complex. Stewart rubbed his chin as he stared at Jody, Tanaka smiled and dipped his head down.

"Happy Christmas Eve, Jody…"

Jody nodded, "Yeah, yeah…" she held up a large metal case and unlocked it, "Gentlemen, I've brought you here to showcase a possible solution to our Seppuku problem…"

She opened the case and carefully raised a large metallic looking weapon, she smirked at it and nodded. Tanaka and Stewart both gasped at the very futuristic weapon.

"What in God's name is that?" asked Stewart.

Jody twisted a few components of the weapon and quirked her mouth, "Feast your eyes on this piece of highly researched piece of destruction…" Stewart grunted and lowered his eyebrows, "This is officially the most advanced piece of handheld weaponry known to man. Even the weapons the Death Soldiers of Dark Million used last year is inferior to this; and Black Shadow is apparently far beyond our technology era."

Tanaka whistled loudly, "Does it shoot giant bullets, Jody?"

She smirked and shook negatively, "The concept of this weapon has been undergoing research practically since the twentieth century; this advanced firepower is officially the only thing that can likely stop someone like Seppuku in his path."

Stewart gasped and momentarily let out a doubtful chuckle, "You're talking big game…"

Jody smirked, "We've proven that the supernatural, like Seppuku, Blood Falcon, Blaskovitz, Dark Rose, Black Shadow; can all maneuver our ordinary weapons pretty easily."

Tanaka smiled, "Seppuku was a fast sprinter."

"I'm led to believe that Seppuku can run about thirty-five to forty miles per hour, and he can apparently leap from place to place much like a flea," she narrowed her eyes and dipped her head down, "…he's as annoying and hard to get rid of as a flea…" she smirked and shrugged, "This weapon can't be avoided. If we catch Seppuku, Blood Falcon, or any other supernatural freak in our way; they're done for."

"Forgive me, but I somehow doubt that such a weapon exists. Have we actually tested this weapon yet?"

Jody spun around and grasped the weapon with both hands, "That's why we're here."

She held up a remote and pressed a button, Stewart and Tanaka both raised their eyebrows as a garage door began to open. A model dummy connected to a small fast moving hovercraft immediately exited the garage and drove down a straight path at a very fast speed.

Jody grinded her teeth and closed one eye as she took aim with the weapon. The object was going about 50 mph. She momentarily dropped onto one of her knees and stuck her tongue out as she took steady aim. Once she acquired a good target, she fired a very bright red beam. The red beam stretched out very far, as if she had fired some kind of rope. The beam was staying in midair as she fired; but her weapon appeared to quickly be overheating and shaking wildly. The dummy came flying towards the stretched beam and quickly went through it. Jody widened her eyes and grunted as much powder flew out of the dummy, but nothing more. She stopped firing, the beam quickly retracted back into her weapon.

"Wh- what the..?"

She widened her eyes and grunted as the dummy momentarily fell over split in half by the beam. Stewart and Tanaka both widened their eyes; even the wall that the beam had hit was penetrated right through. Jody turned around with a smirk and chuckled.

"As you can see, I have completely destroyed the intended target."

Stewart grasped his chin and nodded, he was overly impressed by this, "Not going to lie, that certainly would do the trick on Seppuku…"

"We're calling these _laser strikers_. You could kill an overpowered hedgehog with this kind of weaponry."

Stewart sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "Okay, this is good and all; but come on…" Jody raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you sure that you want to do this? You were so upset after you thought you had killed him, maybe this is your second chance God has given you-"

"Maybe if he had simply woken up and apologized to me instead of causing damage to the HQ, then running off to hunt his companions!"

"I'm just saying, this might be a good time to sit down and discuss the future with him. No one has to die, really…"

Jody sat the weapon down by the barrel and shook negatively, "I've told you guys why he has to die already. We can't risk him going to Black Shadow, and we're at bigger risk of that than ever now…"

Tanaka beamed at the two, "Let's just be happy that we're alive!"

"But, Tanaka, he may have killed Chiya and Earl. They didn't do anything wrong!"

"I know, I fear for the two as well. We just have to hope that they got away in time…" said Stewart.

Jody looked up at the clouds and quirked her mouth, "Where could the Lieutenant have possibly gone..?"

"Hey, turtle, land us somewhere in the southern region of the planet…" ordered Seppuku.

Pico turned his head as he piloted his ship, "Why the south?"

"That area isn't nearly as watched. You'll land me in some small city with a starport, leave, and I'll spend the rest of my day traveling to the northern region."

"Then I get paid?"

Seppuku pointed with a solid finger, "You'll get your money, just not yet. I need to find my ex-companions before I can pay you," he folded his arms and quirked his mouth, "Believe me, the reward will be well worth the risk of entering Mysteria…"

"Why don't you want me coming with you? There'll be a lot of soldiers, I imagine…"

Seppuku chuckled, "I don't mean to sound sexist; but ninety percent of these soldiers are women. I'm pretty sure I can overpower most women…"

Pico shrugged, "Fine, fine."

Pico had two fellow bodyguards roaming his ship, both of which were blue, while Pico was green. The ship entered Mysteria's atmosphere and quickly proceeded south. Seppuku chuckled while shaking his head negatively.

"I should've guessed that they would run here…"

"Why are you hunting your companions?"

Seppuku clenched his fists, "…they betrayed me…" he grinded his teeth furiously and began to shake his fists, "Everything was fine before those two got together, then everything fell apart all at once…"

Pico turned towards him again, "Wait, why not just have me land you out in the country?"

"I don't know this planet at all, and I doubt the Red Dove's GPS system has any data on this planet's geography," he looked towards a very small city and grinned, "Besides, I kind of desire that frightened feeling of having guns surround me…"

Pico stared at him very several seconds before shaking negatively, "You're weird…"

"Oh, _I'm_ weird. Well, look at you; you look like some kind of-"

"Landing in thirty seconds, get in your machine and get the Hell out of here."

Seppuku chuckled and turned towards the cargo area of the ship, where the _Red Dove_ was currently stored. Pico hovered over the city starport and slowly began to descend to the surface. Several Mysterian soldiers immediately became shocked at the sight of the unfamiliar ship, many of them began to charge towards the starport.

Seppuku buckled himself into his machine and smirked as Pico dropped the loading ramp. He turned on the engine and quickly drove off the ramp onto the surface, it only took Pico mere seconds to close the ramp and prepare to lift off. Seppuku looked back as the ship quickly departed, he officially had no way off the planet unless he could find the ship Chiya and Earl had taken.

Seppuku drove towards the exit door of the starport and momentarily spotted a holographic map on the wall near the door. He did a powerslide and opened the cockpit. This map could provide him with directions, as this was a map of the entire planet. He stepped onto the ground and approached the map while humming. He forced his finger against the screen and lowered his eyebrows.

"Corktown…"

He dragged his finger far to the north, briefly tapping on the city of Engelland. The city was thousands of miles away, but if he drove an F-Zero machine that goes around 900 km/h, he would arrive at the northern part of the planet within hours. He studied the roads he would be taking to get to this city, ultimately, it seemed that it would be a fairly simple straight forward drive. Much of Mysteria was barren country land, but Seppuku had no intentions of following the posted speed limit either way.

"Hey!"

Seppuku grunted and turned his head, a man in a visor cap quickly ran up to him with an assault rifle. It didn't take a scientist for Seppuku to figure out that this wasn't going to be a happy welcoming party.

"I'm busy…" said Seppuku.

"Sir, you can't be here without authorization!" Seppuku turned towards him with a provoked expression, the officer grunted, "W- wait…"

"I must be going."

"You're Lieutenant Seppuku!"

Seppuku grinned and chuckled, "Want an autograph?"

The officer glared at him and cocked his rifle, "Take you in, more like it!" Seppuku grunted, "After what you pulled on Chiya Flower last year, you must be plainly stupid to come here!"

Seppuku looked down at the barrel of the man's weapon and lowered his eyebrows. Seppuku looked deeply into the officer's eyes and momentarily stretched his hand towards him; he wiggled his fingers very mystically. The officer grunted as Seppuku wiggled his fingers at him.

"You don't want to kill me, you want to let me go…" Seppuku said mystically.

The officer widened his eyes and grunted, "W- what..?"

"You want to let me go, and resume your usual patrol…"

The officer grunted and began to tremble, he was looking deeply into Seppuku's eyes in complete confusion. Seppuku suddenly punched straight into his stomach with incredible strength, the officer grunted loudly and dropped his weapon. He grasped his stomach and fell to the ground groaning in pain by the stun.

Seppuku crushed the assault rifle with his foot and continued towards the _Red Dove_, "Boring conversation anyways…"

Chiya, Fiona, and Earl were putting a pine tree up in the living room, both Chiya and Earl were now in their usual attire again. Chiya had a very gleeful smile on her face as she held the tree.

" Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful! And since we've no place to go-o. Let it snow, let it snow, let it sno-ow..!" Earl turned towards her with a gleeful smile as she sung happily, "It doesn't show signs of stopping, and I brought some corn for popping. The lights are turned way down low. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" Fiona handed her some decorations, Chiya spun around the tree decorating it with a shiny red wrapping, "When we finally kiss good-night, how I'll hate going out in the storm; but if you really hold me tight, all the way home I'll be warm!" she closed her eyes and proceeded to jiggle her rear around, "The Federation is slowly dying!" Earl widened his eyes, "-and the dead Magicans are good-bye-i-ing..! But as long as the Queen breathes. Let it snow, let it snow, let it- ! "

"Ch- Chiya, where in the world did you learn that song from?"

Fiona gave Earl a confused look, along with Chiya, "It's called _Let It Snow_, by the Mysterian military musical corps."

Fiona nodded while humming, Earl shook negatively, "U-uh, no."

"What do you mean by that, dear?"

"That song originated from Earth centuries ago…"

"Huh…" muttered Chiya, she beamed and closed her eyes after happily shrugging, "I thought that song sounded a bit out of rhythm…"

Finally, Fiona handed Chiya a crystal blue Mysterian socialist star ornament. She reached for the top of the tree with her tongue stuck out as she struggle to reach it, Earl momentarily wrapped his arms under her rear and lifted her up. Chiya smiled and quickly forced the star down on top; Fiona crossed her hands together and smiled at the two. Chiya was brought down; the two proceeded to hold hands as they gazed at the blue star. Fiona chuckled and closed her eyes.

"You're nearly twenty-five years old, and you're still too short to put the star on top…" said Fiona.

"Well, neither can you."

Fiona slowly approached the wall, there was a fireplace installed in the living room. While most households certainly had no use for a chimney, this house did because of the fireplace. She knelt down and turned a dial slowly, this automatically lit a small fire. Chiya held her waist and leaned against Earl.

"Finally, after so many years, I get to enjoy Christmas again with family."

Earl smirked and pushed the wrapped present he had gotten for Chiya under the Christmas tree, "Yeah, I'm happy for you."

Fiona stood up and turned towards Earl, "How does your family celebrate Christmas, Earl?"

Chiya looked up at Earl with an intrigued look, he shrugged and looked away from the two, "I never really did celebrate Christmas with my family. I regarded the holiday as the birthday of Jesus Christ, but that's about it."

Chiya stroked his arm and puckered her lips, "So you never even got to enjoy the fun of Santa Claus?"

He shook negatively, "No, not really."

Chiya and Fiona exchanged glances briefly; Chiya smiled and swiftly swung her hand in the air, "I still have to finish making part of your Christmas present."

Earl smirked, "_Making_?"

She dipped her head down in shame and sighed, "I really didn't have the money to get you anything…"

Fiona grunted and widened her eyes, "B- but my daughter and me had discussed an alternative present she could give you!"

Chiya jolted her head up with a surprised look, "Oh yeah!"

Chiya had agreed that part of her present to Earl would be to give him full control over her come Christmas Day. If Earl wanted Chiya to do something, she would have to do it; in other words, she would temporarily be his slave. Chiya had forgotten about this and had already begun work on another present.

She backed away towards the hallway and smiled, "I guess Earl will be getting two presents then, again, just like last year!"

Earl smirked at her, "You'll have to forgive me that I was only able to get you one."

She nodded while walking towards her bedroom, "Perfectly understandable."

Earl frowned and dipped his head down, Fiona turned her head and raised an eyebrow. He walked over to the cushiony chair in the living room and sat in it with a look of great discontent.

"What's wrong, dear?"

Earl held his forehead while shaking negatively, "This is going to be the second Christmas that I let Chiya down…" he closed his eyes and sighed loudly, "I was originally hoping to have gotten the money for Project Neptune before Christmas, but sadly, I missed the originally set deadline of Christmas…"

"You're upset about your present for Chiya?" he nodded and sighed again, "You spent money on her, that and the thought that comes with it should be satisfying enough, right?"

"He's the greatest woman in the universe, she deserves the best Christmas ever," he lowered his eyebrows angrily, "Dammit, why can't I just get my head in the game and please her with an over the top Christmas present like she got me..?"

Fiona smirked, "That was a once in a life time gift she had gotten you, I assure you, she'll never bring you anything that large again."

Earl crossed his arms and nodded, "I hope that she at least enjoys the present I did buy for her. I apologize for criticizing your home planet, but Mysteria hardly has anything interesting for sale."

"The government goes to great lengths to make sure that no person appears wealthier than another. Therefore, we do not produce the fancy contraptions and clothing that your planet likely has."

Earl nodded and proceeded to gaze into the fireplace, watching the tips of the flames change shapes. He quirked his mouth and rubbed his chin softly.

"Where are Chiya's grandparents?"

Fiona widened her eyes and glanced away from him, "She never met them."

"Eh?"

"My mother and father were taken away during the First Great Patriotic War of Glory against Magica," she lowered her eyebrows and shook negatively, "That was before I even met Robert."

"Did they do something wrong?"

Fiona shook negatively, "It's common for the government to seize the elderly, well, _was_; our new Queen has a more merciful style of leading this planet."

Earl smirked and leaned forward, "I would be interested in learning more about your government system…"

Fiona smiled, "Alright, dear."

Chiya sat still at a desk in her room with a piece of paper taped down; sitting next to the paper was a pencil sharpener and several different graphite pencils. Chiya poked her finger with the sharp tip of a 3B pencil as she stared at the drawing she had been working on. She was drawing a very detailed drawing of Earl, Chiya, and Seppuku. Earl and Chiya were in the front with happy expressions, Seppuku stood in the back of them with the typical strict expression she had come to know him by. She was contemplating whether she would put Mauser in the drawing. After much consideration, she began to draw Mauser in from behind Chiya's right leg.

She had a very concentrated look on her face as she very thoroughly sketched out her favorite cat. She stuck her tongue out and turned her head towards the bed, Mauser was lying down simply relaxing—but not sleeping. She hummed and turned towards the paper again.

She drew an accurate representation of Mauser and began to work on details, she made very slight marks on his body to represent his fur. After a few minutes of drawing Mauser, she moved her pencil up to Earl's hair and began to sharpen his bangs and include the shadows of his forehead. Chiya felt fairly rushed considering they would be opening presents at midnight; but she was already making great progress on the drawing. She quirked her mouth and poked Earl's eyes a few times, trying to add a shiny appearance. What was most interesting about her drawings, was that she seemed to do better drawing Earl than herself. Her drawings of Earl were always great; drawings of her always had disproportionate shapes.

Chiya squinted and tapped the eraser of her pencil on her lip as she stared at the Chiya sketch. She hummed and slowly began to erase her breasts, she swiftly drew much larger breasts—though she clearly didn't have this large of a chest.

"Nice."

She moved back up to Seppuku and did a few sharp strokes on his fedora, trying to make his hat as intimidating looking as possible. While it was true that they were running from Seppuku, she still felt it was necessary to include Seppuku in a family drawing. Regardless of how Seppuku viewed her, Chiya would always be thankful that Seppuku had come into her life.

A few hours later, Fiona was leaning against the counter in the kitchen as a cake was baking in the oven. Earl was sitting at the kitchen table looking at a photo book, it contained hundreds of family photos from Chiya's family; almost every photo was of before the Day of Falling Mist, there were three photos taking place after, which were of Abigail's high school graduation.

"How old was Chiya in this photo?"

Fiona walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulder as she looked down, the photo was of a much younger Chiya standing alongside her father in the garage. She was holding a power tool with both hands and had a gleeful smile.

"I would say she was about ten years old, dear."

Earl lowered his eyebrows sadly at the sight of Chiya so happy, this was nothing new to him, but it broke his heart wondering how someone like Chiya could go on after killing the father she admired so much. Earl turned the page and found a photo of Chiya holding a baby, he knew that this was Abigail, as Chiya looked like a mere toddler.

"Here's Chiya's baby picture," Fiona said flipping a page.

Earl quirked his mouth, Robert was holding a very small naked baby in his arms with a grin on his face.

"_That_ was Chiya?"

"Yes, dear."

Earl chuckled and raised his eyebrows, "She was pretty small, even for a baby!"

She nodded and exhaled, "It sure seemed like it was just yesterday I had Chiya in my belly," she closed her eyes and chuckled softly, "Childbirth was so painful, I honestly didn't think I would ever want a second child…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows sadly, "Where did Abby stand in the family?"

Fiona crossed her arms and shrugged, "Of the two children we had, Abigail was the child I gave more attention to," Earl grunted and turned his head, "Robert was absolutely in love with his daughter, Chiya, and he would often shoot Abigail down on just about anything."

"You mean, you didn't love Chiya as much as Abigail?"

"Don't be silly, dear. I loved both girls, but Chiya was more drawn to her father, and Abigail was fairly neglected. Chiya wanted to be a grease monkey, and Abigail wanted to be a spirited ladylike figure; ultimately, I grew a bit more attached to her."

"But you loved her still, right?"

She nodded quickly, "Of course."

Earl slapped his knee and exhaled loudly; he tilted his head and looked over at the oven.

"Do I smell cake?"

"Yes, Christmas cake."

He folded his arms and closed the photo book, "Like carrot cake?"

"No, just a cake that I plan on decorating Christmas style."

"Ah, that's cool…"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows as she concentrated greatly on the drawing, after hours of work; she now had a very well textured looking drawing. The drawing of Chiya had become much better looking now than before; she realized that she was making great timing, so she had begun working on a background for the drawing.

She was now chewing bubble gum as she worked, she had a great desire for a break, but she didn't want to risk anything happening to the drawing. She was mostly fearful that Mauser may wake up and jump on the table, or that Earl may enter and see what she's drawing early. She continued to push the graphite down on the paper roughly, she momentarily gasped and widened her eyes upon hearing a loud thump in the house.

"Ou-uch!"

She spun herself around with a frightened look, easily startled by Earl's shouting. She dropped the pencil on her desk and leapt up running towards the door.

She charged into the kitchen and found Earl flailing his hand around constantly; Fiona had her mouth covered with a look of fright.

"What happened!?"

Earl quickly ran his hand under the sink and rinsed his finger, which was now glowing red. He turned towards Chiya with a frustrated look.

"I didn't know your oven was so primitive…"

Fiona rubbed her head, "What do you mean? You can't touch the glass window of an oven!"

Earl shook negatively, "Most ovens today are cool everywhere except the inside."

Chiya walked over to Earl and grabbed his wrist, "Let me see…" she widened her eyes and grunted at the sight of the red finger, "O- oh God…"

"I can't imagine Mysterian hospitals treat severe burns…" said Earl.

"We don't have any of your fancy Federation medicine, but our healthcare is free…"

Chiya nodded, "Yeah, we'll just go rub some healthcare on that finger and you'll be better in no time!" she quirked her mouth and turned towards her mother, "Mom, do we by chance have any healthcare in the medical drawers?"

Earl shook his hand negatively at the two, "It's fine, it's fine…"

Fiona grabbed Earl's hand and hummed, "We should put some lotion on that, dear…"

Chiya glared at Fiona and tightly grabbed Earl's other hand, "Yeah, I can put it on for you!"

Earl grunted and forced his hands away from the two, "I'm just going to get some ice…"

Fiona nodded and momentarily returned to the oven. Chiya quirked her mouth and glanced away from Earl, "I can't wait for Christmas…"

Earl smirked, "For the presents?"

Chiya walked up to the window and exhaled happily, "I don't care about the gifts. I love Christmas because it's the one time of the year where we set aside work and struggles to love up one another," she lowered her eyelids with the same smile, "Living alone on the streets all those years for Christmas has left me scarred, so many years of loneliness and sorrow…"

Earl and Fiona were both frowning at her, she remained silent for several seconds before smiling again and turning towards the two, "I have faith that Abby has found her own Earl Bendek to care of her."

Earl grinned at her, "One day, we'll head to Sand Ocean and find her. Then we can celebrate next year truly as a family."

She sighed and turned towards Fiona, "Why'd you send her to Sand Ocean, Mom?"

"I figured that anywhere was better than here…"

Chiya shook negatively, "Sand Ocean is an awful place…"

"Why, is it hot?"

Chiya widened her eyes and nodded heavily, "It's a bloody frying pan!"

Earl nodded in agreement, "She is right, Mrs. Flower, Sand Ocean is probably worse than here."

"Oh dear…"

The kitchen had become silent, Earl rubbed his burnt finger constantly as the two stared at Fiona; he momentarily fake coughed and kicked his foot down a few times. Chiya quirked her mouth and began walking towards the door.

"Where are you going, Chiya?"

She turned towards Earl while holding the doorknob, "I'm going to Engelland for a little bit. Don't go in my room, I still need to finish your present."

Earl nodded and leaned against the counter; Chiya closed the door behind her and rushed towards the _Purring Kitten_.

About an hour later, Chiya found herself standing in a dark lobby. She was looking into a glass display case full of trophies and other awards; she had a fairly amused expression as she stared at a photo. She sighed and lowered her eyelids sadly.

The photo she was observing was of her varsity team, Chiya was kneeling in the center with a soccer ball in front of her. Next to the photo was one of Chiya's old white tennis shoes, it was signed by each member of her team. The shoe now appeared much worn out and clearly hadn't been cleaned for some time. Chiya was inside the Engelland high school; somehow, all of the trophies and awards had been spared from Black Shadow's bombing.

She looked up at a golden plaque and found that a freshly posted photo of the striker who won the soccer match the previous night was now hanging proudly. There were several plaques on the wall, all containing modern school records. Chiya's photo had been removed from the wall after so many years. Chiya didn't object to this, but regardless, she felt somewhat sad that many would never know that Chiya attended Engelland high. She felt that regardless of losing her record, she deserved a spot of honor on the wall on the account that she was now a Mysterian celebrity that everyone loved.

"Mrs. Flower."

Chiya widened her eyes and turned around, there was a female teacher standing at the entrance to the lobby. Chiya didn't recognize this teacher; she was assuming that she was new.

"I- I'm sorry, did you say, _Mrs._ Flower?"

"Are you not married?"

Chiya lowered her eyelids sadly and sighed, "Unfortunately, not yet…"

"Oh, Ms. Flower, could you come in as a surprise guest to my classroom?" she clapped her hands together and smiled, "The students would love it."

Chiya widened her eyes, "Me? A guest speaker?"

"Yes, yes, you could just speak to the class on how you became so successful."

Chiya blinked a few times, she was for the most part, stunned, "Right now?"

"Right now."

"Okay, right now…"

The teacher had brought her to her classroom and situated herself behind her desk, Chiya was left standing in the middle of her classroom with all of the students staring at her. _Oh God, what do they want from me..?_ she momentarily widened her eyes upon spotting the black haired striker; she was staring at Chiya intensely with a big smile.

"What's it like being an F-Zero racer?" a student asked.

Chiya widened her eyes and bit her lip, "It's a fantasy, but very dangerous…"

The teacher was staring at Chiya with her fingers crossed, "How did you go from a soccer player, to an F-Zero racer, Ms. Flower?"

Chiya looked around the classroom and swallowed, "Well, I guess I just followed my dreams…"

She was very nervous of speaking to the class, but she was finding easy comfort from the eyes of the girl she had helped. This one player that she had inspired to win the regional's game was the only person she recognized, and despite the fact that she didn't know her, she could tell that she was the Chiya Flower of the classroom—shy and quiet.

"I thought I was going to become a national player for our soccer team, but I got in a bit of a legal twist with the government and ended up on Earth…" she dipped her head down and looked at her feet, "I met a nice guy there, made friends, and eventually constructed an F-Zero machine," she closed her eyes and chuckled, "I always thought of myself as a great driver, and as it turns out, this is what helped me become a licensed racer…"

The black haired girl grunted softly and dipped her head down nervously, "D- do you think it's a silly dream to become a national soccer player..?"

Chiya slowly smiled at the girl, understanding that this truly was a much younger version of Chiya, "Of course not, I was a better driver than a player, so I eventually used that," she looked deeply into the girl's eyes, "If one believes they are excellent at soccer, they practice, play, and study it. Eventually, you learn the ropes and very well may be scouted out in college."

Chiya rubbed her arm with a faint smile, "Contrary to popular belief, I am not a pro racer, I am still a novice racer. But the more I race, the more I understand the rules; eventually, I believe I may become a true F-Zero legend…"

The girl appeared very inspired by Chiya; her hint was obvious, Chiya was clearly trying to motivate her to pursue her soccer dreams. The majority of the class didn't care about this; rather they were just interested in her F-Zero career.

Chiya crossed her arms and looked up at the ceiling, "I thought my life was over as a bum on the street, I had always hoped that I would get out of the slump eventually, but I've done much more than that…" she exhaled happily and crossed her arms, "I now have somewhat of a fiancé, money, a pet, an F-Zero career, and a home…"

She closed her eyes and smile, "I don't doubt that the life of a soccer player _could_ be more fun than an F-Zero racer. But I'm happy with how my life turned out, the way I see it, someone else can assume the dream I had originally been pursuing…"

The obnoxiously loud bell had rung, sending Chiya into a startled stance. Every student in the room had gotten up and charged towards the door, Chiya was left somewhat surprised that no one stopped for an autograph. The reason for doing this, however, was that tardiness came with a severe punishment.

Chiya gasped as the striker quickly came through the crowd of students and hugged her. Chiya smiled and patted her back a few times, but the girl immediately let go and left out the door with her classmates. She was left watching as this student seemed to be isolating herself from the crowd. She quirked her mouth in confusion and lowered her eyebrows.

The teacher momentarily walked up beside her and held onto her waist, "I apologize for bringing you in so late, I wish I could have given you more time to-"

"What's that one girl's story?"

"Oh, which one?"

Chiya pointed towards the lockers, the striker was very quietly grabbing her things without any other movements. Most students were conversing with each other, as school was now over, but this girl seemed to be completely centered on her own life.

"That's Tanya, the pride striker of our school," the teacher smiled at Chiya and tilted her head, "I could tell that you were more-so talking to her, not the class."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows sadly and quirked her mouth, "Does she have friends?"

"She claims to have friends outside of school, but the students here have been somewhat cruel to her all her life; so she's just a bit scarred."

She shook negatively as Tanya walked away from her locker with a white backpack, "But, she's so pretty and nice sounding, shouldn't people want to be her friend?"

The teacher lowered her eyebrows and exhaled slowly, "Well, romantically, she isn't like all the others…" Chiya turned her head towards the teacher, she nodded slowly at Chiya.

"Tanya is an open lesbian."

Chiya's eyes shot open, "A lesbian? But you can't be harassed for that!"

"Yes, the government is very strict on same-sex harassment; but they can't execute _every_ student that insults her."

"Well, they should!"

"We threaten to expel any student who harasses her two times, but of course, these kids just aren't mature enough to understand that some people want to live different lives, romantically…"

Chiya's eyes were slightly watery, fairly hurt that such a person could be treated negatively for something so insignificant, "Unbelievable…"

Many hours later, Chiya found herself putting the final touches on the sketch. The drawing was very anime-like, but somewhat 3D looking at the same time. She felt that the most attractive piece of the work was her drawing of Seppuku. She had done a superb job of making his visor shiny and intimidating. Despite the fear of Seppuku hunting them, even she had to admit that her favorite part of the drawing was Lieutenant Seppuku. Chiya was now on the clock, there was merely twenty minutes before Christmas Day.

She stuck her tongue out as she shaded in Earl's chin; this was the last part to the drawing she needed to complete. She was staring at the shadow of his chin intensely, anxious to see the final product.

Earl and Fiona were waiting in the living room patiently. The Christmas tree was well-decorated, a green and red frosted cake was on the table, and Fiona had classic military approved Christmas music on. He was fairly excited to give Chiya her present, feeling that he could at least give her _something_ this year.

Chiya lifted the paper up with both hands victoriously, "Aha-a!"

She charged out of her room while holding the paper against her chest, she didn't feel that it was necessary to wrap it. She was hiding the drawing against her chest so Earl wouldn't see it.

Earl smiled as Chiya ran into the living room, she placed the drawing under the tree and momentarily flipped onto the ground. She threw off her stock hat and socks, momentarily stretching on the floor.

"Alright!"

She opened her eyes and grunted at the sight of something under the tree; there were a total of three wrapped presents. She flipped onto her belly and blinked at Fiona.

"Mom, did you bring presents too?"

She nodded, "Yes, one for each of you."

Chiya beamed and clapped her hands, "Yay!"

Earl looked up at the clock and quirked his mouth, "Ten minutes until midnight, but I guess no one's gonna' kill us if we start early."

Chiya nodded quickly, "Yes! Let's start early!"

Fiona sliced a piece of cake for herself and nodded, "Very well."

Chiya leapt down and grabbed her two presents; she was chuckling maniacally as she prepared to tear them open obnoxiously.

"Hold on, honey," Chiya turned her head towards Fiona, "Earl's technically the guest, and you always let your guest go first on everything."

She lowered her eyebrows and groaned, "Fine…"

Chiya stacked her drawing on top of Fiona's present and pushed it over towards Earl. Earl grinned and dragged the presents over towards him. Chiya was pleased to see that despite he was given a solid present, he went straight for the paper. Chiya poked her fingers nervously and glanced away.

"I just made that Christmas drawing, of _our_ family…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows with a quivering smile at the drawing, "You even included Seppuku into the drawing…"

"Yep! You two have always been a great family to me, even if you two did cause me to get shot a few times…" she dipped her head down with a smile, "I know that I didn't spend a single Mysterop, but I did put as much heart as I could into it…"

Earl closed his eyes with a smile, "It's great…"

Chiya clapped her hands with watery eyes and nodded, "What did Mom get you?"

Earl opened the boxed present and reached inside, he grunted with twitching eyebrows after initially grasping something cotton. He knew for a fact what Fiona had gotten him. Earl slowly raised up a custom made green and tan sweater.

"Oh, a sweater..!"

"It's a Christmas sweater, dear."

Earl lowered his eyebrows and slowly put it on, "Thank you…"

Chiya swished her head towards the presents and beamed, "My turn!"

Fiona nodded, Chiya quickly grabbed the present Earl had gotten her. She shook it and could tell that it was very light, this somewhat disappointed her, but she already was aware of the fact that Earl was unable to get anything too expensive. Earl shrugged with a nervous smile and glanced away from her.

Chiya opened the present and raised an eyebrow upon finding blue fabric, the fabric appeared very luxurious and was sparkling.

"Whoa…"

She grasped the fabric and lifted it out of the wrapping, she stood up with a confused look; she released two of her fingers which caused the fabric to drop down to her toes. She gasped as she was now looking at a sparkling blue dress.

"Whoa, whoa, I thought you said it wasn't expensive!"

Earl smirked and shrugged, "That was a lie, this was moderately expensive…"

Fiona had a taken back look at what Earl had gotten her, Chiya was beaming at the luxurious dress.

"I picked blue, to mirror the beautiful sapphire eyes you have."

Chiya dipped her head down while blushing, "Oh, Earl…" she momentarily raised an eyebrow at the dress, "Wait a minute, when would I wear this?"

Earl rubbed the back of his head, "Well, u-uh, I was just thinking that you and I would, u—uh…" he swallowed and looked her in the eyes, "Well, I thought we could go dancing together some time…"

Fiona puckered her lips, "Oo-oh!"

Chiya's eyes water greatly, she quickly nodded and wrapped the dress up.

"Definitely!"

Fiona crossed her hands over her heart with a heartwarmed look, "That's such a nice gift, Earl…"

Earl rubbed the back of his head and sighed, "I'm sorry that I couldn't get you a gift, Mrs. Flower…"

Fiona swished her hand at him, "Both of you have done plenty of work for me," she smirked at the two and chuckled, "Not to mention, you managed to persuade Genie to stop pestering me with that debt. I love you two very much, and your mere presence is enough of a gift to me…"

Chiya and Earl were both smiling at her, she silently chuckled and looked down at the cake, "I think I'll finish this slice of cake and head off to bed, I shouldn't be awake this late at night…"

Chiya and Earl nodded and waved farewell.

About thirty minutes later, Earl and Chiya remained in the living room as the fireplace illuminated the entire room. The lights were off for dramatic effect. Chiya turned up the music player with a smile on her face; she turned towards Earl and slapped her barefeet together.

"Alright, turn around…" she said silently.

Earl nodded with a smirk and covered his eyes. Chiya quickly took off her shirt and shorts, getting down into nothing but her undergarments. She looked up at Earl and puckered her lips, curious as to whether Earl could resist the urge to look at her so exposed. Unfortunately for her, Earl seemed fairly solid to the deal and was keeping his hand over his eyes with his back turned.

Chiya grabbed the sapphire dress and slipped it on carefully. Earl had an excited look, he was anxious to see what his girlfriend would look like in such attire. Chiya took about a minute to get the dress on properly, but she momentarily slapped her feet together again.

"I'm ready."

Earl smirked and uncovered his eyes, he spun around and gasped, Chiya had a cute smile on her face as she stood motionless in her new dress. Earl beamed at her and clapped his hands together. The dress fitted Chiya perfectly, all she was missing were a pair of sapphire dress shoes.

"You know what you look like?"

Chiya turned her head with a gentle smile, "A princess?"

"A sapphire."

Chiya dipped her head down and blushed, "Too bad I couldn't be a ruby, your favorite…"

Earl approached her and wrapped his hands around her, rubbing his fingers around her exposed back, "Ruby, sapphire, what's the difference? They're both beautiful stones…"

Chiya wrapped her arms around his waist as the music played a gentle melody. The two began to softly move around the living room together in circles, this was a magical moment for Chiya. She was very light on her toes as the two danced, as she was hardly using her soles to move. Earl continued to rub his hands on her gently as they danced. Momentarily, their eyes met. Earl's eyes quivered as he stared at Chiya's blue eyes, he had only come to the realization now at last, that Chiya didn't have ordinary blue eyes—she had a special blue, one that only a Mysterian could have.

It was within this dance that Earl viewed this relationship somewhat differently. Earl was an Earthling, and Chiya was a Mysterian. From a certain point of view, Chiya was an alien.

The two closed eyes and brought their lips together as they continued to circle around the living room. The very first thing Earl noticed, was that Chiya's breath was minty—she clearly knew that the two would be kissing by the end of the day.

To Earl's surprise, she had retreated from the kiss mere seconds later and put her chin over his shoulder. Earl blinked a few times, but smirked after realizing that she was too taken back by the dance to make out with him.

"This is amazing…" she opened her eyes slightly with watery eyes, "I always wanted to go to prom, and the one time I did, my boyfriend broke my heart…"

Earl patted her back and nodded, "It's alright, you shouldn't have to worry about pleasuring any guy except the one you truly love," he closed his eyes and smirked as Chiya tilted her head over his shoulder, "It's your body, it should be your call when you want a man to mess around with it," he exhaled loudly, "I'm just glad that I have the traits that a woman like you desire…"

Chiya slightly opened her eyes again and glanced over at the fireplace; she lowered her eyelids and glanced away from his neck for a moment. After careful consideration, Chiya accepted that this was likely Earl's _invitation_. She exhaled nervously, but excitedly, and began to lead them towards the fireplace in circles. Earl combed her hair constantly as the two came up to the fireplace; he widened his eyes and grunted as she momentarily stopped the two.

"Oh, are we-"

She grabbed his hand with an immense blush and dropped down onto her knees, "Let's sit for a moment…"

Earl widened his eyes, but did as she asked and sat down by the fireplace. She was looking into his eyes intensely, prepared to finally fire off at him and ask questions later. She grabbed his shoulders and scooted straight towards him, getting her legs wrapped around him. The two both appeared startled by this, yet they both knew what was going to happen. She got her chest very close to his with her legs wrapped around his rear.

"Um, so-o…"

Earl nervously smiled at her, "So?"

Chiya swallowed while trembling, "I- I had one more present prepared for tonight…"

Earl turned his eyes away from her and smirked, "Uh, yeah..?

She exhaled loudly and looked back up at him, "I don't know what's going to happen, but I decided that for your last gift, I wanted to try some new things..." she rubbed her arm, "Kinda' like how I messed around with you and accidentally gave you a hickey…"

Earl nodded, he knew exactly what Chiya wanted from him, but he was trying to play it cool and let things fall into place. He grasped the condom that he always had in his jacket pocket, as he was prepared for Chiya to do this. He hid the condom in his palm and leaned back slightly.

"So-o, try new kissing techniques or something?"

Chiya blushed and shook negatively, "Um, I was thinking we could do something romantic, but maybe not with our mouths for once…"

Earl nodded and exhaled, "Well, alright then…" he blushed and rubbed her cheek, "Let's, try things then…"

Chiya slowly nodded and exhaled loudly. She leaned in towards Earl and grasped both ends of his jacket, immediately pulling his arms out of the sleeves. Earl was becoming more nervous by the moment, he was especially disturbed that Chiya wanted to do this right on Fiona's floor.

She completely pulled his jacket off and smiled, "Okay, your turn…"

Earl closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Without hesitation or thinking, he dug his hands right into the dress, pressing against her bra. She widened her eyes as the two were going to take turns undressing each other. Just as Earl began to remove the top of her dress, something odd began to happen.

Both gasped and turned towards the fireplace, there was a loud rumbling coming from inside the chimney, and dirt was falling onto the fire; thus putting it out. Earl let go of Chiya and grunted loudly as the chimney continued to rumble. Chiya crossed her fingers and widened her eyes in shock.

"S- Santa Claus!?"

A loud thumping could be heard, it was clear to both of them that something was struggling to get down the chimney. Within a few moments, a loud thump came from the bottom; bringing a massive collection of dust and dirty out of the fireplace. Chiya and Earl backed away as the thick layer of dirt covered the chimney.

"S- Santa!?"

Earl and Chiya scooted away from the chimney, and the next thing that caught their eyes left them stunned.

The dark clothed man came walking towards them after cocking his assault rifle.

"…ho, ho, ho…" Seppuku muttered loudly.

Chiya gasped and scooted back against the sofa with Earl, "S- Seppuku!"

Seppuku approached the two lovers with his assault rifle trained on them, "You two disappoint me as always, I thought you'd at least run to a well isolated place that I'd never find you at," he sighed and shook negatively, "But instead, you just run home to your mama…"

Chiya shook negatively, "S- Seppuku, you don't have to do this!"

"It's my pleasure…"

Earl grabbed Chiya's hand, "Dude! We wanted to help you through that case, but they woulda' thrown our ass in the slammer!"

"That's aside from the point…" he aimed at Chiya in particular, "You betrayed me, Flower. Told me that we were a family, I finally had a family that I almost had a sliver of emotions for; and then you pulled that off…" he grinded his teeth furiously, "You _know_ that I would have broken you two out of prison; you just wanted me dead so you two could elope and go to God damn Vietnam!"

"That's not true!"

Seppuku grinded his teeth, "So many months. I spent so many months in that cell, and about a week in that coffin…" he stomped his foot down, "All the while, you two were off having the time of your lives together!"

Chiya and Earl had no response, Seppuku took aim at Chiya and shook negatively, "Allow me to do what Jody Summer couldn't do…"

Chiya gasped, "Seppuku-"

Earl quickly leapt onto Chiya and covered her up, he turned his head towards Seppuku and lowered his eyebrows.

"Fine! Do as you wish, but please don't kill Chiya; she isn't the one to blame…" he pushed Chiya into his chest as he held her tightly, "Kill me instead, it's my fault, all of it!"

"Earl, no!"

He shut his eyes tightly, "Chiya wasn't in love with me, I was in love with her, it's my fault that we became a couple; and it's my fault that you were imprisoner, since I was the one that warned her of the dangers of you being alive!"

Seppuku raised an eyebrow at him, Earl began to slightly cry as he held Chiya, "If you need to kill one of us, just kill me; but no matter what you do, you're not just going to kill Chiya…" he turned his head towards Chiya and pressed his forehead against hers, "…we die together…"

Seppuku continued to take aim at the two, he shook negatively, "How very noble. Very typical of you Bendek…"

He looked down and raised an eyebrow while the two trembled, he spotted a sheet of paper on the floor where he stood. Earl held onto Chiya more tightly, prepared for the worst. Seppuku hummed at the artwork he found on the paper, he was mostly surprised to see that Chiya had drawn him into it.

"What's this drawing..?"

Chiya opened her eyes slightly and looked over at him as her eyes streamed tears, "A- a picture I drew of my family…" Seppuku grunted and gritted his teeth, "It was a Christmas present for Earl…"

Seppuku continued to stare at the sketch of him, but regardless, he took steady aim at Chiya's now exposed face. He grinded his teeth as the two cried together, Chiya wasn't hiding her face from him; she was looking straight into Seppuku's eyes. Seppuku watched as her eyes quivered, a sight that instantly brought a specific memory back to his head.

"…I remember when I first saw those fearful eyes…" Chiya widened her eyes and grunted, "It was the night before the Grand Prix, and two sexual assaulters were preparing to rape you right on the street…" Chiya's stare only became more heavy as he spoke, "I came down and rescued you, saved you from a fate you didn't want…"

"S- Seppuku…"

He quirked his mouth and continued to growl at the two, he couldn't stand the sight of the two together; but Chiya's eyes had some effect on him—an effect he was very vulnerable to.

He began to tremble, but ultimately, he lowered his rifle and sighed loudly.

"I'm pathetic…"

Chiya and Earl both turned towards him, he put his assault rifle onto his back and sighed, "I knew it, I can't do it…" Earl exhaled in relief, Chiya blinked at him a few times, "I can't bring myself to kill the daughter I never wanted, even if you are the definition of evil in my eyes…"

Chiya let go of Earl and slowly stood up, "Seppuku…" she closed her eyes tightly and exhaled, "I love you, I've always loved you…" he raised an eyebrow at her, "I don't have a father anymore. You've always been a father figure to me, and no matter what trouble you may have gotten me into; I've never stopped admiring you…"

Seppuku was left speechless, Earl momentarily stood up and nodded, "Yeah, I've met a lot of people in the bar scene, but you by far were the only man I ever wanted to drink with _all_ the time."

Chiya nodded quickly, "Earl and I didn't want you to go, we just felt cornered, we didn't want to go to prison, and we didn't want to live our lives as convicts…"

Earl nodded, "If we could go back in time, I would've hired a lawyer to defend against Jody."

Seppuku crossed his arms and sighed, "Really…"

Chiya clapped her hands together and faintly smiled, "Come on, Seppuku, i- it's Christmas! Can't you just forgive us?"

Seppuku looked away from the two and sighed loudly, he held his waist and quirked his mouth, "What progress have you made on Dark Million since I've been gone?"

Earl and Chiya exchanged glances, Earl scratched his chin, "U-uh, none..?"

Chiya nodded, "We beat Dark Million, they haven't shown their faces anywhere in nearly a year…"

"What!?" Seppuku stomped his foot down, "Black Shadow isn't dead! There's still work to be done!" he crossed his arms, "Look, I'll come back with you guys and resume control of the organization. I still need to settle the score with Dark Million personally…"

Earl and Chiya glanced at each other again, neither of them wanted to fight Dark Million, nor did they intend to. But whether they liked it or not, they owed Seppuku and would have to let him stay with them for the time being.

"I'm sorry that I don't have a present for you…" said Chiya.

Seppuku slowly grinned and turned his head towards Fiona's door, "Hm-m…"

Fiona was lying in bed with a taken back look on her face, "…thank God I put that lock on my door…" she said with a red face.

She widened her eyes and gasped as the door was suddenly kicked open by Seppuku. She covered herself up with her blanket as Seppuku marched his way towards her bed.

"L- Lieutenant-"

"Yeah, don't worry, I'm a good guy again…"

She lowered her eyebrows and glanced away from him, "B- but…"

Seppuku shut the door behind him and locked it. He turned his head towards her and chuckled, "I'll explain in a moment," he approached her bed while chuckling, "But first, I think we should exchange Christmas presents…"

Fiona's eyes were quivering, but she momentarily lowered her eyelids and smirked, "Oh…" she lowered her blanket, "…finally…"

-and so on Christmas Day, Team Seppuku had been reunited. Seppuku plans on bringing the organization back the way it was; hunting for Black Shadow. The real issue Seppuku would be faced with, is that he has no idea just how far Chiya and Earl's relationship has gone.

…convincing two lovers to jump back into the vigilante life after having lived happily together for nearly a year; Seppuku may be getting his expectations up a bit too much…

To be continued…


	12. Lap 11

==Lap 11=

Christmas Day, Earl and Chiya had exchanged gifts, kissed, danced, nearly had sex… …and then Seppuku happened…

The three now find themselves reunited as a team once more, Fiona was very forgiving of Seppuku, Chiya and Earl was pleased to have him back with them. Regardless of the reestablished friendship with him, the two still planned on living alone together. As to how they would become independent again anytime soon was beyond their knowledge, both feared what he may do once he learned that they were now legal homeowners of _his_ base.

Chiya snored silently with her forehead against Earl's nose; he too was in a deep slumber. The two were both sleeping in sweaters that Fiona had made for them; Earl's was green and tan, while Chiya's was red and tan. The two appeared to had snuggled together during the night, as both were very close together as they slept. Naturally, Chiya appeared to be the one in charge of the snuggle war with him.

Earl slowly opened his eyes upon hearing birds chirping outside, he grinned at the sight of Chiya's forehead. He chuckled softly and shook her head slightly.

"Wakey, wakey, Chiya…"

Chiya quickly awoke at his request, but only because of the force being put onto her head, she smiled at him and opened her eyes slightly.

"Good morning, Chi'."

"Morning, Earlie'…"

Earl pinched her earlobe and smirked, "You look so adorable in that sweater…"

Chiya giggled and closed her eyes, "-and you're so cute in yours!"

The two nuzzled noses, Earl closed his eyes gleefully, "You're so adorable, I could kiss you until-"

"Damn, this is so retarded…"

Chiya and Earl widened their eyes and gasped, both launched up straight and found that Seppuku was sitting on the edge of their bed. He had a smirk on his face as he stared at the two.

"I thought you two had a strange relationship while I was still around, but now…" he chuckled softly and shook negatively, "This just puts the frosting on the cake…"

Chiya smirked at him, "It's called love, have you ever heard of it, sir?"

"Yeah."

She widened her eyes and lowered her eyebrows, "I- I mean romantic love…"

Earl yawned and stretched his arms, "So Chiya and me came to an agreement that we would head back to Mute City today."

Seppuku nodded, "Good, I probably have a lot of emails to read…"

The two slowly exchanged glances, Chiya fake coughed and lowered her eyelids, "Um, well, actually…" Seppuku raised an eyebrow, "We were kinda' just hoping that you'd stay here, with Mom, while we head back and try to straighten things out with Jody-"

"No!" the two widened their eyes, "Jody cannot know that I'm with you two, she'll bring us all down…"

Earl grunted and turned towards Chiya, "Chiya, he's right. If she learns that we're now harboring Seppuku, she'll have us punished greatly."

"Mhm! That's why he stays here."

Seppuku crossed his arms, "I don't wanna' stay on God damn Mysteria…"

Earl crossed his arms, "Then where would you go?"

"Home, to my base…"

Chiya groaned, "Seppuku…"

"Look, I'll be careful staying out of sight. As far as anyone else is concerned, I'm still hunting you two."

Earl quirked his mouth, "I- I guess that might work…"

Chiya sighed, "I don't know…" she looked up at Seppuku, "The Federation is probably searching all over Earth right now for you…"

"Look, I plan on patching things up with Summer; just not now. I just need to make it to the Grand Prix so I can talk to her on the track, where I can't be arrested."

Earl smirked and nodded approvingly at the plan, "Chiya, I think he's right."

"B- but-"

"The Mysterian people don't like Seppuku, if they learn that he's here, problems may occur anyways," he tilted his head and shrugged, "But if we lock him up in the base, we have the right to deny entrance to the police. Yes, they'll come back with a search warrant, but that will give us time to hide Seppuku before the search."

Seppuku clapped his hands together, "As bold as ever, Bendek."

"Thank you."

Chiya finally nodded with a serious look, "Okay, okay, but Seppuku…" she pointed at him with a straight finger, "Earl and me _are_ trying to live normal lives together as lovers. We'll happily accept you back into our family, but you need to respect out privacy if we happen to be doing something with each other."

"You and Bendek bang?"

Earl and Chiya both gasped, Chiya instantly began to glow red in embarrassment, "U- u-uh, not exactly…"

Seppuku clapped his hands together, "Well, I'll have to respect your little feelings for each other-for now…"

A while later, the three stood near the entrance together with Fiona preparing to send them off. Mauser was now inside of the cat carrier again, which Earl was holding. After a few days of seeking refuge at Fiona's house, they were finally ready to return to their own home.

Fiona held her hands together and smiled, "I'm happy you three came over for Christmas," she glanced at Seppuku and smiled, "Lieutenant, I'm very happy that you chose to forgive these two…"

Seppuku smirked and nodded, "Yeah…"

Fiona nodded and beamed at Earl, "I would like to especially thank you, Earl," he smiled at her greatly, "You are truly a blessing in the sky, I pray that Chiya remains the soul mate you've been looking for, because I would absolutely love to have you over again sometime this year…"

Earl snapped his fingers, "We'll be back somewhere during the Grand Prix."

She nodded, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Mom, thank you for helping me with so many things these past days; I plan on being a much more responsible person with my chores from now on…"

"That, is the first step to becoming a better woman, dear…"

Finally, Fiona looked Seppuku in the eyes and nodded, "I'm sorry that I couldn't get you a blue sweater, dear…"

Seppuku cringed at the sight of his companions sweaters, "Yea-ah, no," he grinned at her and crossed his arms, "I already got the Christmas presents I desired. I got my two coworkers back, some Christmas cake…" he smirked deviously at Fiona, "…and I got some of Fiona's pie…"

Fiona blushed and rolled her eyes; Chiya gasped loudly and looked at her mother.

"Mom!" Fiona slowly looked over at Chiya, "You had pie and you didn't even tell me!?"

Seppuku and Fiona exchanged glances, but she quickly turned her head and nodded, "Yes, dear; I made pie last night…"

Seppuku stretched his arms and yawned, "Well, with that being said, we best be going-"

"Wait! I want some of Mom's pie first!" Fiona grunted and looked at Chiya, she was rubbing her belly while licking her lips, "I love pie."

Earl nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting some of that pie, if you don't mind..?"

Fiona rubbed the back of her head and grunted, "U-uh…"

Seppuku chuckled and patted their backs, "Don't worry, Bendek, perhaps Chiya will let you taste her pie in due time…"

Chiya had a confused look, "But, I don't know-"

Fiona grunted loudly and glared at him, "Okay, okay, that'll do, Lieutenant…"

A few hours later, the three found themselves flying back to Earth at full speed in Chiya's ship. Both the _Red Dove_ and _Purring Kitten_ were now inside the ship. Seppuku was sitting in the pilot's seat of the ship, Earl sat beside him, and Chiya remained standing behind him. The three were very quiet, but both Chiya and Earl had the same question bouncing around their head. Chiya bit her lip as she fought the urge to ask Seppuku the simple question, but in the end, it was Earl who finally broke.

"So, Seppuku…" he turned his head towards Earl, "The Federation claimed that they fired a bolt of pure electricity right against your head; somewhere around the equivalence of a million bolts in one single shock." Earl glanced away from Seppuku and shrugged, "Well, clearly they were lying; but what did they do to you?"

Chiya blinked a few times, anxious for his answer. Seppuku chuckled softly and momentarily took off his hat. He brushed his hair aside, revealing something that greatly disturbed both of them. Right in front of his ear was a crisp black spot; the skin around the spot was grey and purple. Clearly blood was no longer flowing in this area of his head; he had the exact same mark on the other side of his head as well.

"Oh my God…" muttered Chiya.

"They should've put me on the guillotine…"

Chiya grunted and scratched her eyebrow, "A gilloline? What's that..?"

Seppuku ignored the question and continued to look out into space; he had a very concentrated look on his face as he gazed at the distant planet of Earth.

"They tried to kill me through electrocution, but I simply wasn't built with that kind of vulnerability…" he rose his hand up and stared at his palm, "To kill me, one would need to use more…" he clenched his fists with a distracted expression, "…_unorthodox_ methods…"

Chiya widened her eyes, "But, how did you not get caught faking your death?"

Earl nodded swiftly, "-and why did you take so long to escape afterwards?"

He slapped his knees and began to laugh loudly, "I was having the time of my life in that coffin!" he rubbed his chin while laughing, "I was driving Summer mentally insane, I got free beer, free food, a nice quiet chamber, and not to mention, the very relaxing couch and TV down in floor negative zero…" he shrugged and grinned, "-but mostly because of the free beer and the emotional pain I was causing that damn bat…"

"What are you going to do when we get back to Earth?" asked Chiya.

"Get back to the base and take a long deserved nap in my desk."

Chiya nodded and rubbed her chin, "We're getting pretty close to the Grand Prix…"

"It'll be pretty tricky this year, especially since I'll probably have the Federation _and_ Blood Falcon on my ass…"

"You really think Blood Falcon's still alive?" asked Earl.

"Of course he is, so is Black Shadow."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously, "B- but no one has even seen Blood Falcon since last year..."

"Look, when have I ever been wrong about Blood Falcon being dead?" Chiya and Earl exchanged very nervous glances, "Last year we sent him straight into the lava of Fire Field; and guess who showed up for the next race..?"

Chiya grunted and slapped her cheek softly, "We need to warn the Federation about this!"

"Warn them of what? That this escaped convict claims that Blood Falcon is still alive?"

Chiya widened her eyes, Earl nodded while humming, "He's right, Chiya. We're putting ourselves at quite the risk by letting Seppuku stay with us; you know what Jody planned on doing with us if we helped him previously…"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and swallowed nervously, "…yeah…"

Seppuku kicked his feet up onto the navigation console and shrugged, "She won't find out, and if she does, I'll deal with her personally…"

"You'd kill her?"

"No, but maybe I'd stick her in a coffin, see how she likes it."

Chiya pointed at Seppuku with a straight finger, "I'm serious, Seppuku; do _not_ leave the base at any time…"

"That's doable; I'll just need you two to do my shopping."

Earl nodded, "We can do that much, but as far as the Grand Prix goes-"

"I'm already on top of that. Like I said, as far as Jody's concerned, I'm still trying to kill Flower; I'll act hostile towards her on the track for a bit. By doing this, she'll become less suspicious that you may be harboring me."

Chiya and Earl grinned at each other; Chiya nodded and crossed her arms, "Wow, that's actually a pretty good idea!"

"Trust me; we've got this situation under control…"

"Tanaka!"

Tanaka grunted and widened his eyes as Jody marched towards him, "I- I- I didn't do it, Jody!"

Jody stopped in front of him and narrowed her eyes, "Do what..?"

He lowered his eyebrows, then momentarily shrugged with a silly smile, "I dunno'…"

"Well, I'll tell you what you did…" she forced a document up to his face, she grinded her teeth as her hand trembled furiously, "What is this!?"

Tanaka squinted at the document; he momentarily recognized it, "Oh, that's the annual funding request application."

"Yes, we ask high command to authorize us the usage of a specific amount of money each year, but we ask for a fair amount that will last us a year…" she jerked the document around while growling, "But you guys put down that we need an additional one million for _recreational_ purposes!?"

Tanaka quirked his mouth, "Well, yeah, one year of fun does require a lot of money."

Jody crumpled up the paper and narrowed her eyes, "We are not asking for one million credits, just so we can all get drunk after work…"

"It's not just for beer; it's also for bowling, television, and vacation investments."

Jody closed her eyes tightly and pinched her forehead, "We don't need these things to have fun around here…"

Dr. Stewart rounded the corner of the room and approached the two, having overheard their conversation, "Tanaka's right, Jody. Perhaps we don't need one million, but we still need a lot to afford our many expenses."

"That's not how it works! What do you think would happen if we were to publically announce that we spend one million credits of taxpayer money partying!?"

Tanaka and Stewart exchanged glances; Jody remained still with an angry look on her face. She sighed and uncrumpled the document; she proceeded to scan the paper for any other out of the question expenses. She widened her eyes and gasped in shock.

"Twenty-million credits for the laser striker weapons!?"

Stewart nodded, "Those are some pretty expensive weapons, Jody. You demonstrated the firepower of that weapon yesterday to us, and from what we understand, had the humans possessed these kinds of weapons centuries ago; world wars would have ended in mere days."

Jody continued to grunt constantly, "Y- yeah, but-"

"Aside from your dark fantasy of exterminating the supernatural, the laser strikers will put a planet like Mysteria in place. Only a fool would challenge the Federation with weapons like these."

Jody lowered her eyebrows and pointed her finger up, "Now, I wouldn't use the term _exterminate_ to describe my-"

"Eradicate?"

"Well, it's not like I want to kill Captain Falcon or anything…" she clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes, "I just want to put the Lieutenant back in his coffin…"

Stewart shrugged and nodded, "I suppose that's your right…"

Jody crossed her arms and quirked her mouth, "Until I find that bastard, nothing else matters in my life…"

Hours later, Seppuku was grunting constantly at his computer screen. After nearly a year, Seppuku was now safely back in his office behind his desk. Chiya and Earl were off doing their own things in the base, Seppuku wasn't surprised that the two had used his computer while he was gone. But his discovery was less than desirable…

"What the Hell is this..?" he muttered aloud.

His desktop background was now of two grey kittens playing with each other in a field of flowers. Pink petals were sticking to their fur, the kittens were clearly having much fun. Seppuku's eyebrows were twitching greatly as he clicked all over his screen.

"Oh, come on, how do I change this atrocity..?"

He was searching everywhere for the option to change the background, but he simply wasn't as up-to-date on computers. He stood up and lifted up the monitor.

"There's gotta' be a damn button somewhere…"

He searched for anything that would get rid of the unfitting background, but nothing was working. He momentarily sat back down and crossed his arms furiously.

"This is unacceptable…"

Chiya opened the door to his office and blinked a few times nervously, Seppuku looked up at her and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah?"

She quirked her mouth and twirled her foot around nervously, "Um, I wanted to know if you could get off the computer for a sec..?"

He grunted and clenched his fists, "What!?"

"W- well you see, I like to reach out to my fans on this one social media site…"

"I'm not letting you on _my_ computer so you can play games!"

She lowered her eyebrows and looked down, "Uh, well, I wouldn't call it gaming…" she fake coughed and brushed her hair, "It's socializing…"

"No."

She gasped and quickly glared at him, "Then when can I?"

"You don't. Buy your own computer."

"I can't afford a computer right now!"

Seppuku simply shrugged and continued searching for a way to remove the desktop background. Chiya proceeded to grind her teeth angrily, it had only been mere hours and Seppuku was already taking command of their lives again.

She slammed her fists down on his desk and grabbed the monitor, "It'll just take a second!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

The two quickly fought for control over the monitor, Seppuku clearly having the edge over her. She closed her eyes tightly while growling.

"S- Seppuku! I need to share and like comments!"

"No, you don't!"

"Yes, I must!"

The two continued to struggle over control of the computer, Seppuku grinded his teeth and lowered his eyebrows at her.

"Tell me how to take off this stupid fleabag desktop background!"

"No! I like the kitties, they're cute!"

"Ask Bendek for money! He can buy you a computer!"

"No!"

As they continued to struggle, Earl kicked open the door with a very panicked look on his face. He was grunting immensely and proceeded to flail his arms.

"Chiya! I need you, right now!"

The two stopped fighting briefly, Chiya turned her head while trembling, "What is it?"

"Emergency! Emergency!"

"What, what, what!?"

Seppuku stood up and cracked his knuckles, "It's Chain, isn't it? I knew that bastard would return eventually-"

Earl grabbed Chiya and pointed at Seppuku, "Hide, right now!"

Seppuku grunted as Earl charged back out the door with Chiya. They ran down the hallway very quickly, Chiya was overly frightened as to what was going on, Earl appeared very panicked.

"Blimey, Earl, what's going on!?"

Just before Earl could grab the doorknob to the lobby—the door opened. Chiya widened her eyes and gasped as she was instantly met with the deadly sapphire color of Jody Summer's eyes.

"J- Jody! W- what a surprise!" said Chiya.

Jody didn't respond, she scanned the hallway slowly with lowered eyebrows, she momentarily looked down at Chiya and quirked her mouth.

"We spotted your ship entering the atmosphere a few hours ago, just wanted to check up on you…"

Chiya swallowed nervously, "We're doing fine…"

Jody narrowed her eyes as she proceeded forward, Chiya and Earl gasped.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Okay, you've seen Chiya, we're fine, you can leave now!" said Earl.

Jody nodded, "I'm glad that you two are okay, but I feel it to be necessary that I do a quick inspection of your base…"

Chiya felt a shock go down her spine as Jody opened Earl's bedroom door, she found no one inside and quickly shut it. Next she opened Chiya's room, but only found Mauser on the bed.

Earl glared at Jody, "Hey, hey, hey! You need a search warrant before you can just-"

Jody forced a search warrant document up to Earl's face and continued towards the bathroom door. Chiya was biting on her finger frantically, Seppuku was given absolutely no time to hide; meaning her would be uncovered once she got to the office door.

Jody closed the bathroom door and hummed suspiciously, "So far so good…"

Earl's eyes were quivering nervously, "W- what are you searching for?"

"Seppuku."

Chiya gasped and widened her eyes with a clearly fake smile, she fake laughed obnoxiously and let out a snort, "Seppuku, in here? Come on, why would we let the man who's trying to kill us stay here?"

Jody raised an eyebrow at Chiya and opened the kitchen door, she found no one in the immediate area. Chiya's eyes became much wider, realizing that things were already about to go badly. Worst case scenario was that Seppuku would respond by killing Jody on the spot. It was only seconds later that Chiya noticed something about Jody; she had the experimental laser striker holstered onto her back—much like Seppuku did with his rifle.

"U- uh, what's that cannon you have on your back, Ms. Summer?" asked Chiya.

Jody opened the door to the training room and quirked her mouth, she shut it and looked into Chiya's eyes.

"Experimental weapon that can hit practically anything," she smirked at her, "The damage it causes it immense…"

Chiya swallowed nervously, "I see…"

Jody searched the armaments room and found no one; this left only the office. Jody turned towards the office and smirked, as this was the most obvious place Seppuku would be. Both Earl and Chiya looked petrified as she approached the office.

Earl grabbed Jody's hand and tried pulling her back, "C- come on, Jody! Maybe we should search for him in the Lightning Area, where all hardened criminals go!"

Jody disregarded his plea and reached out for the door, Chiya grasped her hand quickly to stop her, "Wanna' pet Mauser with me!?"

Jody growled and whipped her arm out of Chiya's grasp, "Enough! You're acting very suspicious, Ms. Flower!"

Chiya gasped and began to tremble greatly; Jody rubbed her hands together and took the final dramatic moments to reach for the doorknob. Both cringed and closed their eyes tightly as she grasped the doorknob and turned it. Jody prepared to pull out her laser striker.

She forced the door open and quickly reached out for her weapon, she stopped and gasped loudly with widened eyes. Chiya and Earl looked over her shoulders and grunted as well. Seppuku was gone.

Jody blinked a few times in shock and looked around the room, she even looked up at the ceiling and under the desk; but he was indeed vacant from the area. She scratched her forehead and momentarily dropped her hands down.

"Huh…" Chiya and Earl were looking around for him in complete confusion, Jody wasn't the only one who was beyond surprised, "I apologize then, I just had to be certain that Seppuku wasn't holding you two hostage…"

Chiya rubbed her forehead and nodded, "…no problem…"

Chiya and Earl proceeded to guide Jody back out to the lobby, desiring to lead her straight to the door. The one place she hadn't checked was the garage, which was ultimately where she should have checked first. If she had spotted the _Red Dove_ safely back in the garage again, this would have been a clear sign that Seppuku was indeed with them.

Jody approached the exit and spun around, "Don't worry, the Federation is on the lookout for him. If I had to guess, I'd say that he's hiding-" she grunted and widened her eyes upon spotting something, Chiya and Earl both widened their eyes, "Hold on a second…"

Chiya grunted, "um, w- we don't have a second! Me and Earl were about to do very romantic things to each other and can't spare another second!"

Jody ignored this and walked towards the dining room table with a suspicious look on her face. Chiya looked down at the table and gasped loudly at what she found. Jody approached a blue and white aluminum can and began to hum slowly.

"Funny, that's Seppuku's favorite brand of beer…"

Earl's eyes quivered greatly at the sight of this, "Y- yes, it is, isn't it..?"

Jody chuckled with a look of intrigue, she held up the can and shook it, finding that it was only half empty, "Looks like someone was already drinking this…"

Earl nodded quickly, "Early in the morning, yes."

Chiya cleared her throat and lowered her eyebrows, "What's wrong with that?"

Jody closed her eyes and shrugged, "Oh, nothing, it's completely normal for a couple to include beer in their lives; however…" she slowly opened her eyes, only revealing slight slits, "…Earl's a recovering alcoholic, as I remember…"

Chiya and Earl both widened their eyes, Jody smirked and swished the beer around, "It's always sad to see someone who has made so much progress kicking their addiction, get back into the thrill with one single drink…" she swiftly handed Earl the beer and smirked, "But regardless, I implore that you finish your can of beer…"

Earl instantly became lost looking into the opened hole of the beer can. Chiya had quivering eyes, realizing what Jody was trying to do. She had no doubt that Earl would drink from the can, this would be the first time he had consumed alcohol in nearly a year. Unfortunately, just like any addiction, she knew that one simple taste of this beer would instantly bring Earl back into his alcoholic person.

Earl began to tremble as he looked at the beer, he too understood that he would instantly succumb to his once favorite beverage. Jody remained still with narrowed eyes.

"…or is there a reason, you won't drink _your_ beer..?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows sadly, realizing that there was no way out. It was either become an alcoholic again, or get both thrown in prison. Earl prepared to raise the can up to his lips, but he momentarily found that a hand grasped it. Both he and Jody grunted as Chiya quickly stole the can away from him. He grunted more loudly and widened his eyes at her.

"C- Chiya..?"

"Chiya?"

Chiya looked down at the beer and frowned, with great hesitation, she brought the words up her throat, "This is my beer…" she lied.

Jody grunted, "_Your_ beer?"

Chiya slightly nodded, "Yes, I forgot to finish it is all…"

Jody shook negatively in disappointment, "You, of all people, drink?" she sighed and crossed her arms, "That's a real shame…"

Earl was shaking his head at her negatively frantically, regardless of the risk they had of being uncovered, he simply didn't want to risk Chiya becoming an alcoholic. This was shocking because Chiya was strictly anti-alcohol and had never drank beer before.

She closed her eyes and pressed the can up to her lips. _Bloody Hell, here we go…_ with this final thought, she pushed the can over her mouth and let the alcohol flow into her mouth. She instantly lowered her eyebrows and grunted with tightly closed eyes as the strong taste touched her mouth. This was beer Seppuku liked, therefore, it was likely too strong for someone as soft as Chiya.

Jody and Earl watched in shock as Chiya chugged the beer down her throat, a few streams of alcohol ran down her chin, as she was struggling to keep the alcohol in her mouth. Earl's eyes were slightly watery, now feeling guilty that he hadn't drank the beer and spared Chiya the trouble. Jody tapped her foot down patiently as she waited for Chiya to finish. Chiya's eyes were now watering somewhat as she drank, but she held in the urge to cry. After a few more seconds, she exhaled very loudly and dropped the empty can down onto the floor.

Her eyes were quivering immensely with a very sick look on her face, "D- delicious…" she got a bloated mouth as she fought the urge to gag, "I- I sure do love beer…"

Jody hummed and nodded at her, "I understand that I myself am a drinker, but you're still young, I think you should take lessons from your model boyfriend and stop."

Chiya snapped her fingers, "That's a great idea, I think I'll do just that…"

Jody approached the door and opened it, "I warn you, Chiya, kicking the addiction is very hard. Be prepared…" she closed the door behind her, leaving the two alone in the lobby.

Chiya remained trembling as she stared at the door with a sick look on her face. Earl grunted again and momentarily grabbed her cheek.

"Chiya..?"

She didn't respond, she had the same bloated face with sparkly eyes.

"Chiya, are you alright?"

She slowly turned towards him as he stomach began to growl very loudly. Earl widened his eyes.

"Oh God!" Chiya shouted after vomiting in the toilet.

Earl now stood in the bathroom with her as she had been consistently vomiting for nearly four minutes. He wasn't very bothered by this for some reason, Chiya flushed the toilet every time she vomited. Earl rubbed his fingers together nervously and looked over at her. He got a nervous smile on his face.

"So, I take it you won't be wanting any beer in the future-"

Right before he finished the joke, Chiya loudly vomited again. Earl glanced away from her and quirked his mouth. Chiya finished and flushed, then wiped her mouth again with leaking eyes.

"Th- that was terrible!"

Earl nodded, "You drank some pretty tough liquor…"

Chiya gagged a few times, but the vomit had finally stopped coming out of her. She panted after gagging for a few moments, then looked over at him again.

"That was so disgusting! My mouth tastes like a bunch of copper coins!" she groaned and laid her head back against her arm, which was slapped down on the toilet, "Well, actually, my mouth tastes like a mix of today's breakfast and last night's Christmas cake…"

Earl approached her and put his hands on her shoulders, "It's alright, Jody's gone now…"

"Yes, I know that!" she snapped at him loudly.

Earl stroked her shoulders, "Are you feeling a bit better?"

She shook negatively, "I still feel like puking, and now I have a bad headache…"

Earl helped her up and wrapped his arm around her. She closed her eyes and groaned sickly as he held her.

"Alright, you did enough work, soldier. Let's get you to bed…"

Chiya silently nodded as he escorted her out of the bathroom and towards her bedroom. She looked into his eyes with watery eyes.

"W- will you sleep alongside me..?"

Earl widened his eyes, clearly afraid to sleep in the same bed as someone who's very sick. He closed his eyes and smiled, "Um-m, well, not long from now we can do that; remember the deal?" he patted her back and exhaled, "On our three year friendship anniversary, we permanently sleep in the same bed."

"Please, Earl…"

Earl frowned at her, she had a desperate look on her face as they walked. Earl opened her bedroom door and quickly brought her to the bed. He laid her down on the bed and quickly wrapped her carefully with the blanket.

"Please..?"

Earl's eyes continued to water, but he remained strong despite her pleas.

"Look, I'll be honest with you…" he looked her in the eyes, "I don't want to risk getting sick." She frowned and nodded, "I promise, I'll come in and check up on you every twenty-to-thirty minutes."

Chiya laid her head back against her pillow and groaned loudly, "…I don't like beer…"

"I know, I know…"

Earl moments later opened the door to Seppuku's office; he grunted loudly and widened his eyes. Seppuku was sitting calmly behind his desk again.

"Seppuku..?"

Seppuku looked up and nodded, "Yeah, hey, do you know how to operate a computer?" he banged on the computer a few times and grinded his teeth, "I can't get this damn desktop background to go away…"

Earl's eyes were quivering greatly at him, Seppuku was still looking at the monitor with a frustrated expression. Earl pointed at him slowly and lowered his eyebrows.

"Where were you?"

"Where was I..?"

Earl nodded swiftly, "We entered this office, but you were nowhere to be seen…"

Seppuku smirked, "Oh, did you now?"

"Uh, yeah! Jody checked every room in this section of the building!"

Seppuku crossed his arms and shrugged, "Who knows…" he lowered his eyebrows and looked behind Earl, "Where's the Duchess of York?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "Chiya just drank half a can of beer to get Jody off our backs…"

Seppuku gasped excitedly and let out a very loud laugh, "Oh my God, really!?" Earl nodded, "Oh man! That's hilarious!"

"Well, she vomited six times before retreating to her bed; and now she has a headache."

"Oh my God, are you serious?" he crossed his arms and sighed, "What a baby…"

"Chiya doesn't like to drink, you know that…"

"Wanna' know the secret way of getting out of that situation?" Earl raised an eyebrow, "You should've offered Jody the beer, if she's the woman I remember, her temptation would have led her to drink it."

"I somehow doubt that would've worked…"

Seppuku slammed his fists down and growled, "Whatever the case, we're still faced with the same predicament!"

"Predicament?"

Seppuku growled into the air and flailed his hands at his monitor, "These cute little bastards won't get off my screen!"

Merely five minutes later, Chiya had gotten out of bed and was brushing her teeth. She could ultimately conclude that she wasn't sick, rather her stomach was a bit sick from the consumption of alcohol. This was in no way an enjoyable experience for her.

Earl opened the door and gasped at Chiya, "Whoa, hey now, what are you doing on your feet?"

Chiya spat into the sink and turned towards him, "I'm fine, Earl, my stomach was just a little bit shocked by the beer."

"I imagine that would be hard jumping straight from juice and soda to a strong can of liquor."

Chiya washed her toothbrush and turned towards him, "I was thinking that we'd practice Seoli Idong."

Earl smirked, "Random, but a good idea."

"How about we have Seppuku ref us."

"He doesn't like Seoli Idong."

She puckered her lips and shrugged, "All we'd have him do is be a referee."

Earl scratched his chin and dipped his head down, "I don't think this is a good idea, Seppuku is kind of weird when it-"

"-comes to what..?"

Chiya and Earl gasped as Seppuku approached them from behind. Earl spun around with a frightened look.

"U-uh, nothing; we were wondering if you could watch me and Chiya fight."

"You and Flower, fight? I was beginning to think the only form of fighting you did was wrestle with each other…"

"Wrestle?" asked Chiya.

Seppuku cracked his knuckles, "Tongue wrestle…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, Chiya scratched her eyebrow, "Um, well, I don't wrestle with Earl's tongue when we kiss. Sometimes I run my tongue along his-"

Earl whistled loudly and stretched, "Alright, to my room!"

The blue mat was down, Chiya and Earl stood adjacent to each other as Seppuku watched from Earl's bed. He shook negatively at the two.

"Why do you need a mat to fight?"

"Because, one of us can get hurt if we fall on the ground."

Seppuku rubbed his eyes to mimic crying, "Wa-ah!"

Chiya pointed at him, "I'll have you know Seppuku, the ground is very hard!"

"Whatever, and why do you two not wear footwear?"

Earl growled, "Same deal, kicking each other in our socks hurts a lot less than with shoes."

Seppuku chuckled and shook negatively, "…knowing you Bendek, you're just hoping that her foot will fly into your mouth…" he muttered silently aloud.

Earl and Chiya clenched their fists and looked each other in the eyes. Seppuku had an intrigued look, having never actually watched Earl use Seoli Idong. Earl curved his fingers along with Chiya, both prepared to spar with each other.

"Ding, ding…" said Seppuku.

Chiya leapt towards Earl almost immediately, an attack Chiya had never tried before. Earl instantly leapt away from the attack and grabbed her rear. Chiya grunted as she tried escaping his grasp.

"Yeah, yeah! Grab that ass, Bendek!"

Chiya closed her eyes tightly in embarrassment, "S- shut up, man!"

She quickly dropped down to her knees while twisting his arms; he slid under his legs and got behind him. Earl then twisted her arms as well, leaving the two in a fairly complex knot. Earl kept a firm grasp on her wrists as they both fought for control over the other. Seppuku was tapping his chin as he watched the two squirmed.

Chiya finally managed to smack his hand away and knock him down onto the floor; but not onto his chest. He rolled away quickly and got back on his feet. Chiya got the initial strike on him by smacking him across the face with her curved fingers.

"Good, Flower, good for you…"

Earl grunted and quickly stopped a second attack by grasping her hand; Chiya grabbed his elbow with the other hand. Earl stood up while countering Chiya. Earl momentarily slammed against her chest and wrapped his arms around her as she came tumbling down to the floor. Chiya quickly planted her hands down on the mat just in time to stop the defeat.

"Come on, Bendek! A little more and her boobs will have hit the floor!"

Earl tied her hands together and pushed down on her back with his knee. Chiya grinded her teeth and momentarily kicked her head back, knocking Earl's forehead back. She quickly forced her body back and fell onto his chest, sending him down onto his back. Chiya was now lying on top of him with his arms wrapped around her waist tightly.

"This just may be the kinkiest martial art I've ever seen…" said Seppuku.

"Y- you're a referee! Stop being a commentator!" argued Earl.

Seppuku sighed loudly and crossed his arms. Chiya was kicking her feet down constantly as she tried to flip him over. Earl momentarily found the strength to push her off of him, she fell back down onto her back. Earl leapt back onto his feet and got in a combat stance again. Chiya rolled onto her knees and locked hands with Earl, trying to force him away from her. She stood up while doing this, surprisingly; Chiya seemed to be winning the hand locking battle, as she was beginning to push Earl successfully.

"Flower stronger than Bendek? Is this the end for Bone Cold Bendek!?"

Chiya finally managed to make Earl slip onto his knees; Chiya continued to push down on him. She was managing to put fatigue onto Earl, who was desperately trying to overpower her. Chiya narrowed her eyes at him as their hands got closer and closer to his face; Earl was beginning to panic.

"Flower the Brawler begins to overpower Bone Cold Bendek! He'll need a miracle to get out of this one!"

Earl had a fairly irritated look on his face by his comments; finally, Seppuku stood up and approached the mat.

"Oh my God, oh my God! Is that, is that, no, it can't be!" Chiya glanced over at Seppuku as he approached the two, "Yes, it's Big Show Seppuku entering the ring!"

Earl and Chiya both gasped as he wrapped his arms around them and lifted both into the air with ease. Chiya kicked her legs wildly while panicking, Earl was grunting wildly. He began to spin the two around in the air with a smirk. He momentarily threw Chiya onto the ground; her breasts completely slammed the mat.

"Ouch!"

Seppuku then threw Earl down onto his chest as well; he grunted loudly and grabbed his chest, "Gah! Dude!"

Seppuku put his foot on Chiya's back and began to shout pridefully, "-and Big Show Seppuku wins the prize belt! Listen to that crowd roar!"

He proceeded to jiggle around the mat with a victorious smirk on his face, Earl momentarily sat up and lowered his eyebrows in disgust at Seppuku. Chiya was groaning as she held her right breast tightly. Earl widened his eyes at the sight of this and glared at Seppuku.

"Dude, what the Hell!"

Chiya frowned at Seppuku while rubbing the top of her breast, "Come on, if you're going to play with us, at least play nicely…"

Seppuku crossed his arms and chuckled, "Oh, come on. That was so stupid you practically invited me into the match."

Earl stood up and shook his fist at him, "Of course this looks stupid to you, who needs martial arts when you can inject steroids into your arm and win everything!"

Seppuku shook negatively at him, "Steroids?"

Chiya nodded, "Well, yeah, I mean come on…"

Seppuku growled at her, "Come on..?"

"Seppuku, no human being can be that strong, that fast, that cunning; without a little boost…" he quirked his mouth at Seppuku, "Well, clearly you had a large boost, not a little boost…"

Steroids were still forbidden in this age, however, they had now been perfected to last permanently. Steroids still had bad effects on the body and could kill someone, however their muscles and strength would usually remain strong. Seppuku lowered his eyebrows and growled.

"Chain and Blaskovitz did steroids, Black Shadow probably did steroids, Captain Falcon-"

Chiya glared at him, "Captain Falcon's muscles are natural!"

He shrugged at her and smirked, "Whatever; the point is, I didn't do steroids, I was born this way."

Chiya widened her eyes with twitching eyebrows, "You must have been one scary looking baby…"

"My brother is pretty powerful too, but I could kick his ass if I wanted," she smirked and rubbed his chin, "Oh, wait, I did kick his ass all the time…"

"That's so mean, Seppuku! He's your brother; you're supposed to love your brother!"

"You and your little sister may have been pals, but not me and my brother; we were sworn enemies…" he clenched his fists, "Both of us fought for our father's affection…" he smirked and crossed his arms, "But one day, I tried to-" he got a blank expression and shook negatively, "Never mind, it doesn't concern you two…"

He put his hands in his pockets and sighed, Chiya and Earl exchanged glances. Earl cleared his throat as he gazed at the dead crisp looking skin on the side of his head.

"Is there any way we can heal your wound?"

"I don't want to heal it…"

Chiya grunted, "B- but-"

"Let it be a war scar, I say; a symbol of proof that the Federation is corrupt."

Earl shook negatively, "Jody is corrupt, not the Federation."

Seppuku chuckled and shook negatively, "All I'll say on that note is that the Federation is likely going to fight me on the track…"

Chiya sat on Earl's bed and let out a loud sigh, "Please try and patch things up with Jody, so we can all resume living normal lives…"

Seppuku jolted his head up and smirked, "Well…" he turned towards her, "I will if you two get back onboard with my mission…"

"What mission?" asked Earl.

Seppuku flailed his hand in the air, "You people have given Black Shadow more than enough time to rebuild. The end is near, and the universe needs a hero to finally end this…"

Chiya widened her eyes, "You?"

He nodded and crossed his arms, "I'll accept Jody's apology, if she somehow offers it; but I'm determined, if I find Black Shadow's ship, I'm going in…"

"Seppuku, you can't-"

"No progress will ever be made until I do; if I can just get inside that ship, I can deliver the final blow on Black Shadow and simply end this all…"

Chiya grasped her mouth and widened her eyes, "B- but, you may die trying…"

Seppuku tilted his fedora down, "That's a risk I'm willing to take…"

Earl sighed loudly and rubbed his head, "But you don't know where he is?"

"That's why I need help. I don't need you two to help me kill Black Shadow, not at all. What I do need help on, however, is tracking him down," he stomped his foot down loudly on the mat, "We need to take down Black Shadow while he's still numbered; he only has Blaskovitz and Blood Falcon; Blaskovitz I could kill in my sleep, Blood Falcon I can defeat with work."

"-and Black Shadow?" asked Chiya.

"For me and Captain Falcon, Black Shadow is the easiest of the group. He may act brave, but deep inside; Black Shadow cowers before me…" he pulled his glove down tightly, "One Falcon Punch, and that bastard's in the ground for good…"

Chiya stood up and nodded, "I'm in."

Earl gasped, "What!?"

"Seppuku's right, if we don't stop Black Shadow, we don't have a future together either way…"

Earl grasped her shoulders tightly, "We, are not, superheroes!"

"Maybe not, but as a team, we always make progress…"

Seppuku nodded, "I won't even lie, if it weren't for Bendek, Green Plant would be a rock planet right now. If it weren't for Flower, Blaskovitz would have ordered his men to swarm our base and kill us all." Earl lowered his eyebrows, "Say what you want, but deep down, you two are pretty strong combined."

Chiya smirked at Earl, "-and imagine collecting that bounty he has, we would be set for life!"

"I guess…"

Seppuku smirked, "Can I count on you two to help me?"

Both Chiya and Earl appeared hesitant, but Chiya quickly punched Seppuku's arm, "I'm in, it's time for Team Seppuku to rise again!"

Earl sighed and crossed his arms, "Can Chiya and me still spend time together every day like we have been?"

Seppuku shrugged and puckered her lips, "I don't see why not…"

Earl closed his eyes and nodded, "Fine, if beating Dark Million ensures that we have a better future together, I'll do it…"

Seppuku put his arm around Chiya, "-and I promise you Chiya, I swear to you…" he looked her in the eyes, "This year if you have a clear shot at winning the Grand Prix, I'll let you take it…"

Chiya smiled at him, of course, she had her doubts; but she truly wanted to believe that Seppuku had become a better person throughout this experience.

Dark Million was well hidden, and much of the universe was led to believe that they had been vanquished—specifically Jody Summer. With the Federation off guard, Seppuku was truly the only person who could stop him.

Team Seppuku and Dark Million were at war again, only this time—Seppuku was the one who triggered the war…

To be continued…


	13. Lap 12

==Lap 12=

Thousands of men and women cheered in a dark stadium, many of which had very slum appearances. This stadium wasn't filled with a single goodhearted person. Ex-Red Star and Bloody Chain goons, murderers, rapists, predators, rogues, pirates, mobsters; not a single type of criminal was vacant. The men and women of the crowd cheered more obnoxiously as the center of the stadium lit up, revealing a boxing ring.

A man in a dark purple tuxedo stepped into the ring, he had a very similar appearance to Mr. Zero—clearly mimicking his appearance. Overlooking the stadium was a wide window up near the ceiling. From behind the glass, calmly stood a fairly obese man in a fuzzy purple leopard skin coat. His chin was very fat, as it was pressed against his chest; the front of his neck wasn't visible because of this. He hummed with an anxious look on his face. He chuckled and held up a glass of expensive liquor as he gazed down at the ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, we join together for an exhibition match between two Throwdown celebrities!"

A platform elevator under the stage was slowly coming up through the floor; there were two platforms on each side of the stage rising up.

"What else could possibly be as exhilarating as a good old fashion game of Throwdown!?"

The crowd began to cheer wildly. Throwdown was a banned sport, ideally, it was just boxing, but in this sport the opponents could use tools thrown onto the stage. The game was normally won by knockout, but victory through death was a very prominent method of winning for the hardcore players.

An introduction song was played through the speakers as the platforms neared the surface. From inside the east platform stood a man in a black muscle shirt with a red hammer and sickle on his left breast. He had dark green cargo pants with combat boots, and a soviet belt buckle. He was very muscular and had immensely pale skin. His left eye was blazing red, but his right eye was replaced with an optics device. He rubbed his golden mohawk with a very prepared look on his face.

"Blaskovitz! Blaskovitz!" the crowd chanted loudly.

This man was Brock Blaskovitz, Soviet time traveler; ex-Red Star leader, now-puppet of Black Shadow. Blaskovitz slowly dipped his head down and gave his opponent a threatening stare. His opponent was in a dark suit much like Jody Summer's. The man had a visor on his face, much like Seppuku's; only this one had holes—not the electronic white eyes.

Blaskovitz breathed in and punched his two gloved fists together loudly, he approached his opponent slowly. The announcer stood between the two and smirked.

"Gentlemen! We want a very bloody and gory fight!"

Blaskovitz blinked once at his opponent, "I promise this, and more…"

His opponent narrowed his eyes, "You're all talk, you old Siberian pig!"

Blaskovitz lowered his eyebrows slowly and nodded. The announcer rubbed his hands together and backed away.

"With the championship games around the corner, here's one last chance for either one of you to gain some more fans!"

Out in the darkness of the stadium stood a man in a dark blue and red cloak. His hood was silhouetting his face, with the exception of his chin and mouth. He was staring at Brock in specific; a clear look of discontent was on this man's face.

The bell rang, Brock instantly grabbed his opponents hand before he could strike, Brock pushed him off and punched his fists together again.

"…time to die…"

The man blocked with his fists as Brock charged his fist towards him. The man gasped as Brock had easily beat his defense apart with a single strike. Before he could put his hands together again, Brock struck the center of his face. The man was knocked back by this greatly, but Brock was unmerciful and proceeded to strike him in the face multiple times. The man leapt away from Brock and groaned loudly in pain. The crowd was clearly supportive of Brock, as the cheering seemed completely revolved around him.

The man gritted his teeth and chuckled at his more muscular opponent, "That all you got, Red Boy?"

He quickly leapt towards Brock and swiped his fist across his face; while Brock did turn his head upon being struck, he didn't seem very affected by it. Brock slammed his fists down on the man's shoulders, this forced him to drop his hands. Brock quickly slammed his hands across both sides of his head. The man quickly dropped back with a taken back look, now very dizzy from this. Despite the stun, Brock remained unmerciful and began to strike his face some more. The man tried to retreat, but Brock swung at his gut painfully, then proceeded to hit his face some more.

After a few more attempts to strike Brock, the man fell down onto his knees and grunted loudly. Brock narrowed his eye at the man, a metal pipe was thrown into the air by a fan; Brock caught this quickly and grabbed the man by the neck.

The crowd got very loud as Brock proceeded to strike his enemy constantly with the blunt object. The shrouded man in a cloak quirked his mouth and growled softly.

Brock's opponent now trembled after getting hit so much; he got onto his back and began to lift himself up. Brock leapt into the air and came down at him with his fist clenched tightly, his fist landed straight into his stomach.

"O-oh!" the announcer shouter.

Brock looked the man in the eyes with a look that desired to prove his superiority. He clenched his fist and continued to beat the man against the floor over-and-over again. The crowd watched in amazement as Brock was practically beating up a motionless sack of meat. Brock was relentless, every punch he threw was seemingly stronger than the last, and he showed no sign of stopping. Much of the crowd was petrified by this, but most of the crowd was excited.

The man up behind the glass window crossed his arms and smirked as he watched the horrific sight, clearly pleased with what he was seeing. He spun around slowly and proceeded towards his luxurious red chair.

The crowd cheered constantly as Brock moments later stood up with blood dripping from his gloves. He raised his hands into the air with a smirk of pride; his opponent was now lying motionlessly—dead.

Brock continued to pant softly as he gazed upon the cheering dark hearted animals, all of which were cheering for what was nothing short from murder.

Brock swallowed and nodded to the fans, "…I always win…" he muttered slowly.

Seppuku crossed his fingers with a smirk as he read a news article on his computer screen. Chiya and Earl were present in the office with him, as they were told that he had already found a lead on Dark Million. He smirked and chuckled softly.

"What is it?" asked Chiya.

Seppuku looked up at the two, "Blaskovitz just won a Throwdown exhibition match…"

Earl widened his eyes; Chiya had a confused look, "Throwdown?"

"It's a sport that has been banned for several years," he clenched his fists and growled, "...by order of the Bat…"

Chiya still had a confused look, Earl put his hand on her shoulder, "It's a mix of boxing and wrestling- well, the fake wrestling…" he quirked his mouth, "The major difference is that people can die in this sport."

Seppuku nodded, "It was an attempt to make another F-Zero-like sport; one that you could kill in and get away with it. Unlike F-Zero, it didn't gain universe-wide attention, so the Federation had it shut down…"

Chiya shrugged, "Then how did he win an exhibition match? Where did he do this?"

"The Krush."

Earl widened his eyes and grunted, "They have Throwdown competitions at The Krush?"

"Earl, you know about this place?" asked Chiya.

He dipped his head down uncomfortably, "Yeah, I, uh…" he glanced away from Chiya and sighed, "Me and Dark Rose went there together once…"

Chiya glared at him, Seppuku snapped his fingers and hummed, "So you have a VIP pass to this place..?"

Earl raised a suspicious eyebrow, "…yes..?"

Seppuku hummed with a smirk and nodded, "I see…"

"Well, actually, yes and no…" Seppuku lowered his eyebrows angrily, "Rose and _Excalibur_ had VIP passes—not me."

"Excalibur and Rose, huh..?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "You have something on your mind, spit it out."

Seppuku nodded while rubbing his chin, "Do you still have your Excalibur outfit?"

Earl narrowed his eyes, "Oh boy…"

He pointed at Chiya, "Do you still have Rose's clothing?"

Chiya beamed, "Yes! I love to dance around in her underwear, it's so fun and-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're a confused lesbian, we get it."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows taking offense by this, "Um-m, okay..?"

Earl snapped his fingers and shook negatively, "I know what you're going to propose, and I'll start off by asking the obvious question," he pointed at Seppuku firmly, "Why don't _you_ go?"

"The Krush only allows criminals in, yes, however, I may no longer be considered a criminal after last year's events."

Chiya smirked, "No offense, but you could open up ten animal shelters and people would still think that you're a criminal…"

"Also, I just spent all those months locked up, I don't wanna' screw things up right away by getting intercepted by the Federation goons on the way to the Lightning Area."

Earl crossed his arms and hummed suspiciously, "Just what is it that you would have us do?"

Seppuku chuckled and clapped his hands together, "I think it's about time Excalibur and Dark Rose make a reappearance…"

Chiya shook negatively, "But Seppuku, Rose is dead!"

"But you have her clothes, voice, and hopefully can act like her."

Chiya puckered her lips and pointed up in the air, "I'm a bloody witch!"

Seppuku laughed, "Perfect! Just shout that every five-to-ten minutes and you're good!"

"Now, hold on, what is it you would want _Excalibur_ and _Dark Rose_ to do at The Krush?"

"Confront Blaskovitz…"

Chiya widened her eyes and gasped, "C- confront- you mean fight him!?"

Seppuku nodded, "Just like the Grand Prix, Blaskovitz can't harm you inside The Kurhs; he'd be killed in an instant."

Earl shook negatively, "You're insane."

"I'm proposing that you enter the Throwdown championship and work your way up to the final. Inevitably, you two would meet there."

"Again, you're insane!"

"Don't worry, I plan on training you. You'll have Blaskovitz down in no time with a little work."

Chiya grabbed Earl's arm, "No way! We said that we'd help, but that's suicide! We'd have better chances surviving Black Shadow's empire than we would fighting Blaskovitz!"

Seppuku slowly tilted his fedora down and sighed, "Then, we've already lost the war…" Earl lowered his eyebrows and bit his lip, "Deep inside, Blaskovitz is a puppet just like Rose. His wires can be cut, but only if you do it for him. If we can just briefly free him from the puppetry, he very well may give us the answers we need…"

"Which are..?"

"The location of Black Shadow."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "What if me and Earl just enter this place and talk to Blaskovitz?"

"Talk? Talk to him about what?"

Chiya smiled, "Maybe we can trick Blaskovitz into giving us the location, or something…"

Seppuku sighed and sat back in his chair, he pinched the spot between his eyes and shook negatively, "It's not your fault, this kind of thing happens to a couple once they're away from the action for too long…"

Earl let out a hostile sigh, "Look, we agreed to _help_ you, not work for you."

"_Help_ me, by retrieving information from that fool!"

Earl nodded at him and looked into Chiya's eyes, "Me and Chiya will enter The Krush and see where things take us. I have no plans of entering any competition though."

"Fine…"

Earl exhaled loudly and looked into Chiya's eyes, "How about it, Chiya? Infiltrate the cantina with me?"

She smiled and grabbed his hand, "Well, you and I have said it a million times before…"

"You two die together…"

The two looked over at Seppuku, who now had a smirk, "Yeah, that's right, your little saying even grew on me a bit."

Earl clapped his hands and nodded, "Alright, Chiya, go get dressed; I gotta' go dig out my suit."

Seppuku jiggled a key around his finger a few times, Earl turned as Seppuku tossed it at him. Earl caught it and raised an eyebrow.

"Go ahead and take the Red Dove for this mission."

Earl smirked and clenched his fist, "Yes, sir."

Earl later came walking out of his room in a pale green and red mercenary bodysuit. He had grey gloves and grey boots, along with a red shoulder pad. He walked towards Chiya's room with a full visor helmet under his arm. Excalibur was originally a fake persona Earl had taken on in order to infiltrate Dark Million, however, it ended up becoming much more than a fake persona. Excalibur had later become the one line of defense in protecting Chiya from Dark Rose—by being her romantic interest.

Earl tugged on the collar of his suit and loudly knocked on Chiya's door.

"Come in."

He opened the door and entered, Chiya was putting her shirt on just as he had entered. Earl quickly covered his eyes, but realized that she already had a bra on. He slapped his arms down and nodded approvingly at her.

Chiya spun around in the exact same attire she would normally wear, except this clothing was black. The only significant difference between the attire of Chiya Flower and Dark Rose, was that Rose wore shiny black leather stocking boots. This was Chiya's first time trying on Rose's socks and stocking boots.

"Excellent work."

Chiya puckered her lips and lowered her eyebrows, "Earl, I'm confused. Doesn't the public know that Rose and Excalibur are dead?"

"The Federation claimed that they killed Seppuku, yet he walks among us. Therefore, much of the public likely believes that the Federation lies," he snapped his fingers, "We can use that doubt to our advantage, claim that the Federation was holding us in custody."

"Well, we better stay in the shadows…" Chiya narrowed her eyes and rubbed her chin, "…Jody is keeping an eye out for trouble…"

Earl nodded, "We'll stay quiet. If Jody so much as hears a rumor that Excalibur and Rose are out on the streets again, you can bet that she'll come for us…"

Chiya groaned and dipped her head down, "Wonder how many beers I'd have to drink to get us out of that mess…" she joked.

The two parked at Bart's Café in the _Red Dove_. Unlike the _Purring Kitten_, this machine could fit two people, therefore Earl could sit in the back.

Chiya leapt onto the ground, she widened her eyes at the sound of a loud crack. She looked down at her new boots and quirked her mouth.

"Wow, did you hear that!?" Earl nodded and smirked, "These boots must be pretty solid!"

"Looks like some kind of incredible leather."

Chiya swiftly poked her boot as they walked towards the door, "It is, wonder what kind of leather it is…"

Earl opened the door for her politely and hummed while nodding, Chiya immediately moved towards the counter and sat down in her usual stool. Earl momentarily walked in and sat beside her.

Chiya scanned the room for Bart, but the café was empty. She turned towards Earl and raised an eyebrow.

"Why is it that Bart's always-"

Suddenly Bart rose up from behind the counter in a red shirt, both Chiya and Earl widened their eyes at the sight of his new attire. Bart smirked and crossed his arms.

"Well, what do you think?"

Chiya and Earl both lowered their eyebrows slowly. Chiya was fighting the urge to laugh, but was unable to hide her quivering smirk.

"U- uh, I think about kittens…"

Bart raised an eyebrow at her, "What do you think of my new attire?"

Chiya and Earl exchanged brief glances, she fake coughed and rolled her eyes, "That's pretty sweet, Bart!" she lowered her eyelids and dipped her head down, "But, do you by chance have the receipt?"

"Oh, wow."

Earl chuckled and grasped his forehead, "Yeah…"

Bart momentarily widened his eyes upon noticing the obvious, "Hey, wait a minute…" he slammed his hands down and gritted his teeth, "Why are you two dressed like that?"

"We're heading for The Krush cantina."

Bart gasped, "The Krush, w- what business could you have there!?"

Chiya beamed, "Seppuku-"

Earl grabbed her mouth quickly with widened eyes, "S- Seppuku-u's computer, we found information on his computer that Brock Blaskovitz is there."

"Stay away from The Krush!"

Chiya widened her eyes, "What's wrong?"

"You two are a happy couple, why in God's name are you going to the most criminal infested place on Earth!?"

Earl shrugged, "We just wanna' know if Blaskovitz is actually there. In and out, it'll be easy."

"Yes, he's there. I'm warning you for your own good, do not, go to that cantina…"

"I know that it's dangerous, me and Rose went there together once."

Chiya scratched her head, "I understand that there's bad guys here, but what makes it so dangerous if we're disguised?"

"If they find out that you two are clean citizens, they'll tear you to shreds…" he glared at Earl, "Why are you dragging Ms. Flower into this!?"

"Hey, Bart, man, relax…" Bart continued to glare at him, "If I didn't know what I was doing, I wouldn't have brought her along. Again, in and out, quick and simple."

Bart set two white cups down and poured them coffee, Chiya looked down at the steaming cup and quirked her mouth. Earl grabbed her hand and looked at Bart.

"We're going to be fine."

Chiya took a sip out of her coffee and nodded in agreement, Bart shook negatively at the two, "As a friend, I'm just trying to help you. Do _not_ go to The Krush!"

Earl narrowed his eyes at him and smirked, "Alright, we won't go…"

Chiya gasped and swished her head around, "We're not?"

Earl winked at her, she widened her eyes and puckered her lips, "Okay…"

Bart pointed at him with a straight finger, "Don't go there…"

"We're not!"

Bart lowered his eyebrows and hummed curiously, Chiya crossed her arms and looked out the window. The dark stormy clouds of the Lightning Area could be seen far across a body of water.

"Why doesn't the Federation shut down The Krush?"

"There's not enough Federation officers in the galaxy to take down _that_ many criminals…"

Earl tapped his fingers along the counter, he smiled faintly and exhaled, "Bart, I do want to thank you for looking out for me and Chiya."

Bart nodded quickly, "Finish up your coffee and go home," he turned his head towards the door nervously, "I'm scared that Ms. Summer is going to walk in here and catch you in your suit, Earl."

Earl chugged the coffee down and pushed the cup forward, "No problem; Chiya, let's roll."

Bart glared at him, "Roll _home_?"

Earl stopped before reaching the door and nodded, "Yeah…"

Chiya finished her coffee and got out of the seat as well. Bart reached out towards her and grunted.

"Ms. Flower, you appreciate your relationship just as much as him. Make sure he doesn't bring you to that awful place!"

Chiya smirked at him and gave him a thumbs up, "No worries! We're heading straight home!"

"Here we are, The Krush…" said Earl.

Earl and Chiya had parked the _Red Dove_ in a secluded area near a massive complex. The complex was very flashy, had hundreds of vehicles in the parking lot, and several lowlifes hanging around the entrance. There was very loud music being played around the building, Chiya could tell that this wasn't going to be any ordinary cantina.

Earl forced his helmet over his face, the tinted visor hid his entire face from view, "Alright, you know your role?"

Chiya smiled and nodded, "Mhm!"

Earl nodded and began walking towards the entrance, "Alright, follow my lead, Rose."

Chiya felt a shock go down her spine upon being called _Rose_, but this wasn't necessarily a bad shock. The night Rose had been killed, Chiya accommodated a recurring request Rose had for her, which was to drink some of her blood. Chiya did this and now believes that the two are reunited again. For the time being, Chiya didn't feel like her gleeful self-she felt like a dark hearted witch.

The two walked past a crowd of people standing around the entrance; many of them were glancing at Earl and Chiya in shock. Chiya quickly put the sunglasses Rose used to wear on, this way she could hide her blue eyes, as Rose had red eyes. She looked down at Earl and found that he had his hand wrapped around his holster. Despite how insistent he was suddenly sounding in the café, Earl was fairly nervous being surrounded by so many criminals. The fact that he brought a gun along wasn't unusual at the slightest.

Earl approached the door and pulled out two plastic cards, both belonged to Excalibur and Dark Rose. Chiya raised an eyebrow as he put the cards in a security slot.

"What are those?"

Earl jolted his head up and fake chuckled, "Good one, Rose…"

She widened her eyes and looked back at the idle men and women surrounding them, she nodded and fake chuckled as well.

"I was just kidding…"

The door unlocked, both were allowed inside and were registered as Excalibur and Dark Rose. Earl grabbed Chiya's hand and proceeded into the cantina. She was initially alarmed by the sound of loud chatter, the music could hardly be heard over all of the conversations that went on at once. Earl continued to hold her hand as they walked past more criminals. A few of the men and women they passed were holding alcoholic beverages.

Chiya widened her eyes and gasped as they entered the large room of the cantina. In the center of the room was a round counter with hundreds of drinks behind the bartender. Many tables and booths were set up around the room, and fairly revealing female dancers were present in each corner. Chiya was left amazed by what she was seeing, this was nothing like the bar she used to go to; this was some kind of mega-cantina.

"Blimey! How are we gonna' find Blaskovitz in this mess!?"

Earl held his waist and hummed as he thought the same thing. He scanned the room for any sign of Brock, but all he could find was a large variety of universe's greatest scum.

"Should we split up..?"

Earl shook negatively, "No way."

Chiya laughed with a snort, "Don't blame you…" she quirked her mouth and scanned the room with him, she widened her eyes and pointed towards a wall, "Is that him?"

Earl turned his head, there was indeed a very muscular man sitting at a table, he had a muscle shirt just like Brock's-only it was white with a black hammer and sickle.

"It's one of Brock's old goons…"

Chiya frowned, "I miss fighting the goons…" she exhaled with a smile, "You never realize what you had, until you have supernatural clones trying to kill you…"

This wasn't likely someone currently affiliated with Brock Blaskovitz, this was most likely an ex-Red Star gangster who had escaped from the final battle. The Lightning Area was where both Red Star and Bloody Chain gang members tried escaping to after the Japanese military arrived in the Lower City. Michael Chain had nearly escaped, but had been comprehended by Mr. EAD and fellow Federation officers.

Earl swatted his arms against his waist and shrugged, "Well, got nothing to lose…"

He walked towards the counter while still holding Chiya's hand. The bartender was leaning against the counter with a bored expression, his eyes widened upon seeing Earl approach him. He instantly sprung up onto his feet and gasped.

"No way!" Earl and Chiya stopped in front of the counter as he looked back and forth at the two excitedly, "Y- you're Excalibur!"

Earl nodded, "Yep, and this is Dark Rose."

Chiya wiggled her fingers at him, "Hi-i…"

"B- but, didn't you get killed? It was all over the news about a year ago!"

Earl and Chiya exchanged glances, he chuckled and shrugged, "Yeah, and from what I understood, the Federation electrocuted Seppuku. But hey, he's walking and talking again, isn't he?"

The bartender nodded, "Never did trust those Federation bastards, bunch of Fascist pigs…"

Chiya crossed her arms angrily, "Yeah, fashion pigs…"

Earl pointed at Chiya, "Me and Rose were exiled from Dark Million, so we faked our deaths and eloped here in Japan," Chiya widened her eyes and blushed, "Right, honey?"

Chiya was somewhat stunned that Earl wanted to take this bit of roleplaying so far. Implementing Dark Rose as Excalibur's wife was unnecessary in their mission, but she found it beautiful that Earl would do such a thing. She liked to believe that Rose would have eventually married Excalibur had he not been Earl.

"Married? Well, congratulations…"

Chiya beamed at him and grabbed Earl's hand, "Yup! Excalibur is my husband!"

The bartender smirked at the two, "Ah, well, anyways…" he leaned against the counter, "What can I get you fellas'?"

"Information."

The bartender spun around to grab the beverage he requested, but he instantly stopped after realizing that he didn't ask for beer. He spun back around with a confused look.

"Information?"

"A location."

The bartender smirked and rubbed his chin slowly in suspicion, "…what kind of location..?"

Earl leaned in towards the bartender and held his hand up towards his helmet, "We're looking for Brock Blaskovitz, do you know him..?" Earl asked silently.

"Know him? Of course I know him, everybody knows Blaskovitz!"

Chiya grunted, "He's that popular?"

Earl slammed his hands down, "I would like to establish an audience with him…"

"You can try…" the bartender pointed to his left, Earl and Chiya both turned their heads; Brock was sitting with two women in a very dark booth, "Blaskovitz likes spending time with the ladies…"

Earl and Chiya continued to stare at Brock intensely, he didn't seem to realize that the two were in the cantina with him. An unusual site for both of them, Brock seemed to be having the time of his life, as he was laughing and making very wild looking hand gestures as he spoke.

The two walked away from the bartender without saying anything. Neither Chiya nor Earl had thought out a plan, they simply went straight towards Brock. Chiya began to tremble slightly as they did this, she wasn't prepared to question Earl's careless motive for doing this, so she merely walked alongside him.

Brock continued to chuckle with his women, both appeared to be romancing him up. Both women had their hands on his torso, his large arms were wrapped around both women. He blinked once and breathed in as he prepared to speak, but he was quickly interrupted by the sound of a hand smashing down on the table. He looked forward with a surprised expression and grunted in shock, then in disgust.

"Excalibur…" Earl nodded at him, "-and Dark Rose, apparently…"

She smiled, "Hi, Blaskovitz."

"Big champ, I hear…"

Brock narrowed his eye, "The greatest…"

Earl pulled up two seats from another table and pushed them in front of the table. He and Chiya sat down in front of him with calm looks, Earl momentarily removed his helmet and placed it down on the table. Brock glared at him, he already knew that this was Earl, but simply seeing Excalibur unmasked for the first time sent a slight bit of rage into his body.

Earl had a smirk on his face as he looked into Brock's eye, Brock grinded his teeth angrily and pointed at Chiya, "Dark Rose was a very annoying person, I greatly disliked her from the start…" he slammed his fists down and growled loudly, "-and then you came and made her worse!"

"You would've liked her if you hadn't been treating her so badly…"

Brock chuckled, "We treated her badly, because she deserved it…"

Chiya glared at him, "What did she do to deserve it?"

"We didn't need her, not from the start. Had she not been created, Green Plant would be destroyed right now…" he crossed his arms, "I will not question my master's decision to create her, every decision he makes is right, I just hated her guts…" he pointed at Chiya, "Mainly because I hate _your_ guts…"

"Most people like my guts, Blaskovitz…"

Earl nodded at her and hummed, "Yeah, I like her guts. You're just an idiot, always have been, even before you were a puppet."

Blaskovitz slammed his fists down and laughed, "A puppet!? Ha! The only puppet here is the one who believes in a God!"

"You believe in a God-Black Shadow," Chiya pointed out.

"I, like all of Dark Million, believe in the Red Dove-a sacred dark angel…" he smirked at the two, "But to honestly believe that a deity put us in this universe? Ha! You humans are all the same…"

Chiya shook negatively, "The Red Dove, eh? Is that why you want Seppuku so badly?"

"Seppuku _is_ the Red Dove, but that is not why we desire to capture him…"

Earl closed his eyes and shook negatively at the nonsense he was hearing, "Okay, look, let's cut to the chase…" Brock raised his eyebrow, "Black Shadow, where is he?"

"He is everywhere…"

Earl glared at him and growled, "God dammit, stop it with this mystical crap. His ship, where is his ship!?"

"You don't know?"

"He destroyed the tracking device I had hidden aboard his ship months ago…"

Chiya and Earl gasped as a stripped her gotten up on the table and began to jiggle around. Chiya's eyes were quivering at the woman, Earl had a fairly annoyed look on his face. He leaned down and looked at Brock.

"As I was saying, tell us where Black Shadow's ship is, and I promise-"

The girl crouched and began to jiggle her rear around, blocking his view of Brock. Earl grunted and lowered his eyebrows in anger.

"M- ma'am, can you please leave? We're in the middle of an important discussion."

The stripped didn't listen, she continued to dance around erotically. Earl groaned and looked over at Chiya.

"Can you believe this?"

Chiya didn't respond, she was stuck staring at the stripper's nearly revealed chest. Earl raised an eyebrow at her. Chiya lowered her eyebrows and shook negatively very slowly.

"Those have to be implants…"

Earl grunted and momentarily pulled out his wallet. Brock had a grin on his face as he watched the woman, having completely forgot that he was in a conversation with his enemy. Earl pulled out some credits and began to throw them at the woman.

"Go! Shoo! Get away!"

The stripper looked down at the money and nodded. Earl and Chiya both gasped loudly as she slipped her skirt down all the way to her feet. Chiya was left with a quivering mouth.

Earl watched the stripper shake her exposed rear around, there was only a very thin thong on her. He covered Chiya's eyes and closed his.

"No! Please leave the table!"

The stripper looked down at him and nodded after picking up the money. Earl opened an eye again and lowered his eyebrows.

"I hate this place…"

Brock shook negatively, "You must play for a different team then, because this is paradise for men…"

Earl shook negatively, "No, I most certainly am not a homo-" he closed his eyes and shook negatively, "Look, just tell us where your master is and we'll leave forever!"

"Betray my master?"

"Yes," both Chiya and Earl answered.

Brock smirked, "Why might I do that?"

Earl crossed his arms, "Can he hear us right now..?"

Brock shook negatively, Earl smirked at him and poked his fingers down a few times, "If we can find him, we can kill him. Kill him, and you'll finally be free."

"I don't know, this seems like the life for me…"

"But, Blaskovitz, Black Shadow wishes to destroy all of this…"

He shrugged, "All of humanity must die…"

Chiya raised an eyebrow at the two women stroking his muscles, "Y- you two just heard that, and you're still pampering him?"

The women did not respond, Brock crossed his arms and smirked.

"There is no way I will betray Dark Million…" he momentarily smirked and turned his head away from the two, having come up with something devious, "…unless, you were to earn my betrayal…"

"Earn it, how?"

"In a fight!"

Chiya gasped, "No!"

Earl smirked, "I'm not playing your little barbarian game of Throwdown."

"Do not worry, most are merely knocked out in matches."

Earl narrowed his eyes, "Don't play funny games with me, I know how _you_ like to play…"

Brock closed his eye gleefully, "I know, it is great…"

"I can't have Seppuku fight you?"

Brock chuckled softly, "Even I will admit, that Seppuku outmatches me…" he opened his eye and looked up at Earl, "Besides, if I killed him in the ring, Black Shadow would kill me."

Earl lowered his eyebrows and growled, he looked down at his hands and shrugged, "So if I were to beat you in a match, you'd hand over the information?"

Brock shrugged, "Maybe…"

Chiya grabbed his hand and shook negatively, "Earl, don't do it…"

Brock nodded, "You should listen to your girly friend. If you and I meet in the championship, I will destroy you, Excalibur, like I have always wanted to…"

Earl glared at him and got out of his seat. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly, "I'll think about it…"

Chiya got up with him and shook negatively, "No! We completed the mission, now we head home and forget about this!"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and dipped his head down, wondering if Chiya was right. Brock continued to watch the two with a comfortable look on his face. The general fear Earl was having, was that Brock may be lying about this deal. If he did somehow beat Brock, there was a good chance that he wouldn't give out Black Shadow's location either way.

The two walked back to the counter together, preparing to make a final decision on the matter.

The two sat at the counter for a good twenty minutes, they were only discussing the dangers that could be presented if they took up this opportunity. Chiya was greatly succeeding in pulling Earl away from this proposition.

"- and let's not forget the obvious; compared to you, Blaskovitz is huge!"

Earl nodded while rubbing his chin, "He is pretty big…"

"He's a pro at this game, you've never even played before; how would you even beat the regular contestants?"

Earl snapped his fingers and nodded, "Okay, fine, I won't fight him."

Chiya smiled, "Good, now, can we go home so I can make you dinner?"

Earl smiled, "Yeah! I'd love to have dinner-"

"I, had dinner once…"

Both turned their heads to the end of the counter, the man in a dark blue and red cloak was sitting with his head tilted downward. He took a sip of his beverage and wiped his mouth.

"I, had a dinner of pain dealt to me…"

Chiya and Earl merely blinked at the man a few times, an awkward silence ensued the random comment. Chiya smiled at Earl again and nodded.

"Yeah, so anyways, I was thinking-"

"But it wasn't the type of pain you feel, oh no, it was a whole different type of pain. A pain, in my chest; he took a part of my life away from me…"

Earl and Chiya were blinking at the man again, Earl momentarily cleared his throat.

"A- are you talking to us, sir?"

The cloaked man looked up at them slightly and inched his finger, "Come, sit."

Both were skeptical of this mysterious look man's intentions, but both did as they were asked. Earl cautiously sat next to the man and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?"

The man crossed his arms, "I know of your mission…"

Earl and Chiya both widened their eyes, Earl began to panic, "Mission? We're not on a mission!"

The man turned towards Brock and pointed, "You and I have similar desires, to stop Black Shadow."

Chiya forced herself in front of Earl, "How did you know!?"

"Black Shadow dealt me a great amount of pain many, many years ago…" he grinded his teeth, "Blaskovitz is the only way we can find Black Shadow…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "_We_? Who are you?"

The man looked up and nodded, "My name is Berserker; an ex-Throwdown champion…"

Chiya hummed, "Really..?"

He turned towards Brock again and growled, "I've watched Blaskovitz kill as a gang leader, as a minion of Dark Million, and as a Throwdown athlete…" he slammed his fist down angrily, "That man is much worse than the ordinary thug…"

Chiya nodded in agreement, "I shot him in the eyes two years ago, he should be dead."

Berserker flailed his hand around the room, "Look at him, everybody admires this man, this _thing_. They admire a man who is trying to destroy planet Earth…"

Earl chuckled, "Yeah, quite the bastard…"

Berserker turned towards the two, "I understand that you two are not criminals, I can't say I understand why you're here."

"We're on a mission for someone."

"Who might that be..?"

Earl and Chiya exchanged glances, wondering if it was safe to reveal who their boss was.

Earl quirked his mouth and crossed his arms, "We're on a mission for Lieutenant Seppuku."

Berserker grunted, "So he _is_ alive?" Earl and Chiya nodded, "I heard that he had escaped from the Federation; but I'm not very surprised that he escaped execution…"

"He's a tough card to kill…"

Berserker leaned in towards him, "Here's the deal…"

"Oh boy…"

"I overheard your conversation with Chiya, and I would like to help."

Earl chuckled and shook negatively, "I'm not fighting. We're going to go discuss this matter with Seppuku."

"You and I can destroy Blaskovitz, together…"

"_You_ can do that, I'm not risking my skin in the ring."

Chiya nodded approvingly at Earl, Berserker put his hand on the counter and pointed at Earl, "I assure you, with a little work, you can topple everyone in the ring."

"A little work? I think I need a bit more than a little work to beat Blaskovitz!"

Chiya glared at Berserker, "Yeah, come on, Earl may be tough, but not steroid tough."

Earl nodded, "-and I'm not doing steroids."

"Yeah, no steroids!"

Berserker shook negatively, "Seppuku can train you."

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "Seppuku?"

"I know Seppuku very well, he would approve of the plan and train you to throw some heavy punches…" he rubbed his chin with a grin, "As for your fight with Blaskovitz, I have an idea for that…"

Earl chuckled and stood up with Chiya, "You're crazy man, Seppuku's supernatural, I'm not; there's nothing to be learned."

Berserker chuckled silently, "Go home and see for yourself…"

Earl narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the man, wondering if this was Seppuku in a disguise. Chiya had both the key to the _Purring Kitten_ and the _Red Dove_, there was no way he could have gotten to the Lightning Area. Earl ultimately dropped his suspicion and nodded.

"Fine, let's go see what Seppuku can show me, Chiya…"

"Don't do this, Earl…"

"I'm not, but let's see what Seppuku has to offer me…"

Berserker nodded approvingly as the two walked away from him. Chiya had a look of discontent as she held Earl's hand, feeling that he was being successfully pushed into doing this.

Seppuku clapped his hands together while chuckling, "So you want me to train you?"

Earl nodded, "I want to see if what Berserker told me is true, can you truly make me a stronger man?"

"Berserker?"

"Yeah, he told us that you knew each other."

Seppuku shook negatively, "Never heard of him."

Chiya grunted, "T- then let's not trust him!"

Seppuku slammed his fist down loudly, silencing Chiya completely, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves; entering this competition is a good idea…"

"No! He's not doing it!"

Earl nodded, "Yeah, he said he _might_ give me the information if I beat him."

"Who said that we'd beat him?" Earl raised an eyebrow, "I'm all for you _killing_ him in the ring."

Earl laughed loudly, "Kill Blaskovitz? With my bare hands? Sounds farfetched…"

"Because it is farfetched!" shouted Chiya.

"But what if I teach you some bone crushing attacks?"

Earl beamed, "Really? Bone crushing?"

"Well, uh, I mean, I can crush bones with punches, you're just an ordinary person, so probably not…"

Chiya stomped her foot down loudly and growled violently, "Is nobody listening to me!?" both looked at her quickly, "Why can't we dress up Seppuku and have him fight!?"

"I wouldn't just kill my opponents, I would destroy them. Besides, I don't have a pass into The Krush."

Earl crossed his arms, "Berserker claims to have a plan for the final match between me and Blaskovitz, considering I get that far…"

"Oh, but you will get that far!"

Chiya shook negatively, "No, he won't!"

Seppuku stood up and approached Earl, he patted his back with a smirk, "I won't let you get killed by Blaskovitz; I may not have a pass in, but for that final match, you can bet that I'll sneak in…"

Earl chuckled and crossed his arms, "I'm suddenly feeling a bit motivated…"

"Earl, stop it! I don't want you getting hurt!"

"I won't."

Chiya gasped, "Won't? You mean you're doing this!?"

Seppuku and Earl exchanged glances, he shrugged at Chiya, "It's worth a shot, I suppose…"

"No!"

"Besides, if I'm not capable of this, I'll lose right away and be ejected from the tournament before I even reach Blaskovitz. It'll be fine, Chiya…"

Seppuku nodded, "Trust me, you can kill, but it rarely happens in Throwdown."

"Rarely? As in..?"

Seppuku shrugged, "Probably a one-in-four chance of death. But that's only if Bendek sucks at this."

Earl smirked and nodded, "Believe it or not, but this isn't as dangerous as F-Zero racing."

"Are you kidding me!?"

"He's right, Flower. In F-Zero, you can get seriously messed up, we're just talking about beating the crap out of people in this sport."

Chiya widened her eyes with a taken back look, "B- b- but…" she closed her eyes tightly and growled, "I'm going to make dinner!" she shouted angrily.

Earl and Seppuku watched as Chiya left the room in a rage. It was understandable that she was angered by his intentions, Earl would have to fight against two people every few days, for a total of six people; the last match would likely be against Brock. Throwdown would surely be one of the last major things Earl and Chiya do until the Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, Chiya had to spend these final days leading up to the Big Blue race, fearing for her lover's life…

To be continued…


	14. Lap 13

==Lap 13=

Chiya puckered her lips and shrugged her shoulders as she slept soundly in her nightgown once again. This was the first time she had put this on since she left for Mysteria. Mauser was trapped under her arm and appeared unable to break free of her grasp, he appeared to have fallen asleep trying to escape. Chiya had a bad night after Earl decided that he would enter the Throwdown tournament, but she was having a great sleep none-the-less.

Every few seconds a loud smacking sound could be heard, Chiya was slightly awakening at the sound of this. She slowly opened her eyes into slits and groaned.

"Oh, come on then…" she glanced over at her clock and groaned, "It's not even afternoon..!" she complained aloud.

Chiya had gotten up and exited her bedroom, she didn't bother to put on her usual attire, as she planned on simply finding the source of the noise and get back to bed. She stopped outside of her door and raised an eyebrow, the smacking sound was coming from Earl's room. She lowered her eyebrows in frustration and grabbed the doorknob to his room.

"Honestly, what could you be doing?" Chiya asked herself as she opened the door.

Upon opening the door, Chiya found Seppuku and Earl sparring together. Seppuku was holding his bare fists up as Earl constantly struck him. Chiya narrowed her eyes at the sight of this activity, understanding that they were training.

"You just need to keep striking, eventually you'll manage to make my hands shake; when you get that far, you have a shot at breaking my defense."

Earl nodded, "I don't think this is as good as Seoli Idong, but I'll gladly listen to the guy that can-"

"Hey!" Seppuku and Earl turned their heads towards Chiya, she had a displeased look on her face, "Stop it! You could break Earl's fists doing that!"

Seppuku swished his hand at her, "Bendek's not going to hurt himself in practice…"

"You don't know that!"

"Flower, listen. The track record shows that I've been right about things much more often than you. You just need to trust me on all of this."

Chiya faked a laugh, "Trust you? You very well may cause Earl to get killed in that ring!"

Earl shook negatively, "Chiya, you need to relax, I'm gonna' be fine."

She glared at him, "Why are you doing this? Do you not care that you could die, and I'd be all alone in this world!?" she crossed her arms and dipped her head down sadly, "God knows I'm not looking for another mate…"

"Flower, he let you accompany a bunch of soldiers on Green Plant-a war, and you were okay," Chiya lowered her eyebrows sadly, "Bendek wants to enter a sparring competition that only _some_ can kill in."

"But I had people protecting me!"

Earl smirked, "You're going to be here to throw the towel in if I fail, right?"

She tilted her head in confusion, "Throw the towel?"

"Yeah, you decide when I surrender, as my coach."

She glared at him and gasped, "I don't want to be your coach, I'll mess up!"

Earl approached her and forced his finger over her lips, "Chiya, I want you to trust me. If I wasn't positive that I could do this, I would never enter. If I'm willing to risk our future together just for a mission, I must be pretty damn confident, right?"

Chiya whimpered, "But, Earl-"

"Forget her, Bendek. Get your shirt off so we can practice the real thing."

Chiya jolted her head up and widened her eyes, Earl threw off his shirt and punched his fists together. Seppuku held his fists up and smirked, Earl flexed his muscles and momentarily clenched his fists.

Chiya nearly fell over when he flexed, she had a very dreamy look on her face as she stared at Earl with lowered eyelids. She crossed her legs together while staring at Earl's left bicep.

"I- I'm just going to sit down…"

She sat down on the couch and crossed her legs with an excited look on her face. Seppuku grunted at her and clenched his fists more tightly.

"No, get out of here!"

"I don't want to!"

"…get out…"

"I don't _have_ to!"

Seppuku reached for his assault rifle, Earl grabbed his shoulder and shook negatively, "Let her stay, it'll give me confidence and motivation."

Chiya's smile began to quiver, "Y- yeah, let her stay…"

Seppuku growled and flailed his hand at Chiya, "Oh, come on! You know that she's here for dirty-"

Earl beat his fists together again, "Are we gonna' fight, or what?"

"Yeah, but-"

Earl stomped his foot down and swung aimlessly towards him, "Let's go, I wanna' fight."

Seppuku lowered his eyebrows and nodded, "Alright…" he clenched his fists again and dipped his head down, "Exert your energy into your fists..."

"-and your muscles..!" added Chiya.

Seppuku swished his head around and growled, "Out!"

"No!"

Earl landed a punch across Seppuku's cheek, his head was jerked back slightly. Seppuku turned towards Earl and smirked, he cracked his knuckles and took a swing at him. Earl dodged the swing and swiftly popped him in the face again. Seppuku grunted and stepped back.

"Good, good…"

Earl chuckled, "Had enough yet, old man?"

"You only punched me two times, don't get cocky," he sent his fist towards Earl's chest swiftly, but he leapt away in time, "It would take a billion punches to take me down."

Earl nodded and locked his fist back behind him, Seppuku got in a defensive stance and put his fists together. Earl forced his fist straight into Seppuku's defense, this knocked his hands away. Earl grunted in pain as his hand now burned from delivering such a blow, but he punched Seppuku two times none-the-less.

Chiya clapped her hands for Earl gleefully; Earl turned his head towards her and grinned, "Oh, so now you're supporting this?"

Chiya was staring at his waist with a smile, "Well, now that I think about it some more, maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all…"

Seppuku chuckled while shaking negatively, "I assumed that you would've changed after all these months…" he crossed his arms and pointed at her belly with one hand, "The only thing changed about you seems to be your weight."

Earl and Chiya both gasped, Earl turned away from the two quickly, Chiya had an enraged expression, "Are you calling me fat!?"

"No, not fat; but you're not the supermodel you used to be," he chuckled at her mockingly, "There was a time where you could be compared to Jody Summer, but now there really is no contest body-wise."

Chiya's eyes began to water slightly, "G- God made me like this for a reason!"

Earl cleared his throat and dipped his head down, "Chiya's not fat, not at all."

"That may be, but in a couple of years, she'll transform into a slug."

She frowned and looked down at her belly as the two continued to spar; she was left feeling fairly drained of morale after having been insulted. She poked her belly and lowered her eyebrows sadly. _What could I be doing to gain the weight I did? All I ever make is vegetables and meat…_

Seppuku shouted as he attempted to strike Earl once more, but again he missed. He stepped away from Earl momentarily and nodded, "Good, you landed several punches on me and dodged every single attack. You're certainly ready for such a competition."

"That's good, but are you sure I have real deathblow attacks? You sure don't seem very hurt right now."

"I have a skull of steel, you could never break me."

Earl closed his eyes and chuckled, "I'm beginning to wonder if what you say is true-"

He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of soft whimpering, both Earl and Seppuku turned towards Chiya. Earl grunted with a sad look, Chiya now had her feet brought up to her rear as she sat with tears running down her cheeks. She was staring down at her belly while doing so.

"Oh great, she's crying about something now. Remember when she used to not cry?"

Earl quickly sat next to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "Chiya, what's wrong?" Her lip quivered greatly as she looked down at her belly, Earl looked down as well and lowered his eyebrows, "Chiya, you're not fat."

"But I miss having a super body…"

"You never had a super body, you were starving."

Tears continued to run down her face, she was fairly convinced that her physical life was going to continue declining. Earl rubbed her shoulder and shook negatively. Seppuku was simply standing still watching the drama unfold.

"Why can't I stay that way? Why am I getting fat?"

Earl shrugged, "You were denied food for about seven years, your body is-"

"Flower, put your feet down; I can practically see your ass in that thing."

Chiya quickly did as she was told and brought her feet back down, she fixed her gown up and crossed her arms angrily, "My body is betraying me…"

Earl smiled, "I love your body!" Seppuku laughed loudly at this and turned his head away from the two, Earl glared at him while continuing to rub Chiya's shoulder, "Your body is great, and you shouldn't freak out about it."

"-Unless she gains another twenty pounds, then we should-"

"Shut up, man!"

Chiya sighed and closed her eyes, "You're just trying to make me feel better…"

"Holy damn, this is stupid."

Earl shook negatively, "No, I really mean it. A little extra weight is never going to make me stop enjoying you."

Seppuku laughed again, Chiya looked up at Seppuku and growled, "Will you bugger off!?"

Seppuku chuckled and swished his hand at her, "Hey, I'm not the wanker here, but from the sound of it, Earl may be one."

"You _are_ a wanker, Seppuku!"

He smirked and shrugged; Earl grabbed Chiya's hand and stood up, "Wanna' go somewhere today?"

"But, isn't the tournament today?"

"Tournament starts tomorrow."

Chiya smiled, "Yeah, we should go somewhere…"

Earl smiled back, "Excellent…"

Seppuku crossed his arms, "If I give you guys a bag of crap, will you go burn it in front of the Federation HQ?"

Chiya slapped on her purple shorts and opened the door to her room, she was putting on her boots as she entered the hallway. Earl was leaning against his door with a smirk. Chiya stopped in front of him and smiled.

"Where are we going?"

Earl slightly turned red and began to tremble; he cleared his throat and momentarily pulled a black bikini bottom out from his pocket. Chiya widened her eyes at this, but momentarily beamed.

"Really!?"

Earl nodded, "We were going to, but then we suddenly found ourselves on Mysteria."

Chiya snatched the bikini from his hand, he momentarily pulled out a bra as well. Chiya grabbed both small pieces of clothing and jumped up excitedly, however, she momentarily widened her eyes and lowered her eyebrows.

"Wait, why did you have my bikini..?"

Chiya was minutes later piloting the _Red Dove_ in the bikini, Earl was sitting in the back with blue trunks on. The two were driving down the Upper City in search of a swimming center. Earl put his hand on the cockpit window and quirked his mouth.

"So you really like swimming then, huh?"

"Yeah!"

Earl smirked and looked over her seat, "See? You're not fat; you look very hot in that bikini."

She blushed and rolled her eyes while scanning for the swimming center. She rubbed the back of her head and dipped her head down.

"N- not as hot as you!"

Earl smirked and nodded, "We're both hot."

Chiya turned into a parking lot as she continued to blush; there was a fountain in front of a large complex with massive windows. The two had been here with Seppuku two years ago, but the building appeared very changed. Earl hummed at the building; Chiya parked the machine in a strange angle. She opened the cockpit and immediately shivered—as they were indeed in the middle of winter. Earl looked down at the ground and lowered his eyebrows.

"You took up two parking spaces?"

Chiya leapt out and nodded, "It's a valuable machine, Earl."

Earl leapt down beside her and nodded, "I guess that's fair…"

The two walked towards the entrance of the building, Earl was shivering greatly while keeping his arms crossed for warmth.

"Why didn't we change after we got in?"

Chiya puckered her lips and shrugged, "Dunno', doesn't it feel good to walk around practically nude?"

Earl smirked, "Not really."

She opened the door for him and shook negatively, "Come on, didn't we all walk around naked when we were six?"

Earl stopped moving and grunted, he slowly turned his head around, "U-uh, six?"

"Years old," she answered.

Earl closed the door behind them and shook negatively, "I imagine I stopped doing that when I was one or two, Chiya…"

She shrugged and grinned, "Then I guess it's a Mysteria thing."

Seppuku was sitting at his desk with a very concentrated look on his face. His mouth was quirking constantly and his head was beginning to tremble. He gritted his teeth and began to growl softly.

"Damn you, damn you, damn you…" he muttered softly.

He blinked and grunted, followed by a loud groan. Mauser was sitting on his desk looking him in the eyes. Seppuku swished his hand at Mauser.

"E-eh, just because you can beat me in a staring contest doesn't make you a stronger man…" the cat blinked and Seppuku grunted, "…well played…"

He chuckled softly and began to stroke the cat's fur, "Don't get too full of yourself, fleabag, I have the right mind to get the snippers out and…" he smirked, "Take away your manhood…" he crossed his arms and chuckled.

Mauser was still unneutered, but Chiya had been considering whether she should deal with this or not. Unneutered cats could eventually cause a fair amount of trouble, but Chiya was feeling bad knowing that she would be the one person to singlehandedly bring an end to Mauser's family tree. As for Seppuku, he simply wanted Mauser to stop urinating on his laundry due to his lust for a female cat. Ideally, a cat should be neutered by 6 months into birth—but Mauser was already several years old.

Seppuku slammed his fists down, "Don't get me wrong, man, I understand why Chiya respects you so much; but come on, you need some self-control…"

Mauser leapt off of his desk and walked over to one of the shirts Seppuku wore under his coat. He gasped and stood up as Mauser walked over his shirt.

"M- Mauser..! Don't you-"

-and just like that, Mauser began to spray his shirt. Seppuku slammed his fists down loudly and grasped a roll of duct tape.

"Oh, that's it!"

Chiya and Earl were later sitting together in a hot tub. Surprisingly, not many people were at the resort, hence the reason she wasn't being swarmed with fans desiring autographs or handouts. Chiya was lying back against the wall of the hot tub, Earl was bobbing his head back and forth as he had good thoughts.

Chiya exhaled happily and submerged herself more into the water, Earl opened an eye and smirked.

"So this is all there is to it?"

She nodded, "Yep, like taking a never ending hot bath…" she opened her eyes and smiled, "Well, except you're here."

"Want me to leave?"

"No, this is only fun because you're here with me."

Earl nodded and looked towards the regular pool, "I'm surprised you're not over there."

"It's winter, I want to relax in hot water, not cold."

Earl chuckled, "Eh, don't worry. Winter here is pretty short ever since global warming consumed the planet."

Chiya nodded, "We had that problem on Mysteria, but we fixed the issue."

Earl nodded with his eyes closed, "Wish I could've seen what the arctic parts of the planet looked like…"

The two remained silent for a few moments, Chiya exhaled again and looked down with a cute smile. She poked her breasts and laughed.

"God, you know you have big boobs when they decide to float in water."

Earl's smile momentarily faded away as he looked down at her. What she said was true, her breasts were floating. He grunted while staring at them and bit his lip.

"Wait, t- those are real?"

Chiya widened her eyes, "Huh?"

"That's literally all fat?"

Chiya grasped her chest and glared at him, "I may be getting fatter, but God knows my breasts are not!"

Earl was stuck staring at her chest with a somewhat taken back look, "I always thought that you had implants…"

She blushed and let go of her chest, "Oh, no, like Mom said; us Flower's all have large chests."

Earl was able to tell that these were real simply because of one fact. Implants would typically add weight and keep the breasts from floating, natural breasts were mostly fat, therefore could float. Earl was fairly shocked by this. Chiya continued to smile at him; she closed her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm sorry for not trusting you on this Throwdown thing; I think we can do it if we try hard enough." Earl nodded silently, but was still staring at her chest. Chiya looked him in the eyes and smiled, "It's about time we settle the score with Blaskovitz. I killed him two years ago, and he cheated death somehow…" she thrust her fist into the air with a smirk, "Team Seppuku is gonna' put him back in the ground where he belongs!" she said full of determination.

"Yeah…"

Chiya dropped her excited grin and got a displeased expression, she looked into Earl's eyes again carefully. She found that his eyes were locked down onto her chest. She took a few moments to think about this, before realizing that Earl was staring at her breasts. She grunted and gave him a very heavy glare.

Earl's eyebrows were twitching as he remained lost looking into Chiya's cleavage. Just before Chiya could shout at Earl, she widened her eyes at the moment, realizing that Earl was already acting unusual. She accidentally seduced him.

She smiled at him and exhaled again, now immensely flattered that Earl was giving her a dirty eye. Her desire for more attention led her to do something fairly ridiculous. She lifted herself up slightly with a grin on her face and began to stretch back, she tried to bend her back all the way to the surface behind her—but in all actuality she was just trying to give Earl a _better sight_.

Earl's eyes began to quiver as she did this, just as she wanted, he was staring at her chest in awe. Chiya exhaled and touched her head back on the surface with a grin. _That's right, drool…_

Earl cleared his throat and glanced away from her, now becoming self-aware of his perverse actions. But temptation led him to glance back at her, this was truly one of the first times Earl was the one becoming interested. Chiya's back was beginning to feel pressured from stretching, so she sat straight again and submerged herself in the water once more._ Your free trial is done, pal…_ she concluded this brief sexual moment by bringing her entire body underwater. Earl blinked a few times and looked back into Chiya's eyes.

"Uh, so, yeah…"

"Yeah…"

He swallowed and dipped his head down, "Throwdown, pretty crazy stuff right there…"

Earl was too late to redirect the topic to something realistic, he had already practically invited Chiya into battle—and she was determined to win the battle and have a _good time_.

"Yep, pretty nuts…" she closed her eyes and smirked, "I would join the tournament with you, but you know…" she giggled and shrugged, "I'm a girl, and as you may have noticed, I have fairly large boobs."

Earl closed his eyes and swallowed, "You don't say…"

Chiya decided that she had successfully seduced and aroused him, now it was time for phase 2—the invasion of personal space.

Chiya began to slide around the hot tub towards him slowly; Earl raised an eyebrow at her with a nervous smile. She momentarily got next to him and wrapped her arm around him tightly.

"You and I are great people, Earl…"

He silently nodded, "Yeah."

She raised herself out of the water slightly, but Earl seemed to be resisting the rude urge to turn his head towards her. She lowered her eyebrows in frustration and hummed.

"So, would you have preferred to have Seppuku here with us?"

Earl dipped his head down sadly, "Never, not since we went to that White Land onsen together…"

She smiled and closed her eyes, "We should find a private onsen."

Earl widened his eyes, "Private onsen?"

"Yeah, for just you and me…" she closed her eyes and chuckled without opening her mouth, "It's not like we'd see anything with all of that foamy water…"

Earl bit his lip tightly and nodded, "Yeah…"

He bobbed his head up surprised as Chiya lifted herself out of the hot tub, he turned his head and blinked a few times. Chiya got behind him and sat down; Earl prepared to get up, but Chiya momentarily put both of her feet on him.

"I'm just cooling off for a sec."

Earl gritted his teeth with a perverse grin, Chiya wrapped her legs around him tightly and pushed herself against him. Earl immediately grabbed onto her ankles with a quivering smile. Chiya narrowed her eyes at him and pressed her chest against the back of his neck. _Come on, take the bloody bait…_

"T- those are some pretty great looking legs you have attached to your body right now…"

Chiya raised an eyebrow and smirked with a blush. _Okay, that's a pretty unusual thing to say, but pretty cute..!_

"Yeah, rub them, see how smooth they are."

Earl grinned and began to run his hands along her legs with a taken back look. Chiya smirked and began to rub his shoulders softly as he did this. He crossed his legs as he continued to do this, he bit his lip more tightly and closed his eyes.

"Oh God…" he muttered faintly, "Your legs and feet are so smooth, so soft…"

Chiya breathed in nervously, feeling that she had nothing else to throw at him, she decided to take a shot.

"Wanna' rent a room and just, talk..?"

Earl lowered his eyelids and smiled, "Yeah…" he swallowed and continued to rub the bottom of her legs, "I would very much like to talk in a bedroom…"

Chiya lifted him out of the water and nodded, Earl and Chiya both appeared nervous, but both once again had the same desire…

Mauser leapt up on Seppuku's desk with a hostile expression. He smirked and laughed at the feline, "What's wrong? Trying to mark your territory?" Mauser now had duct tape over his rear and all over his crotch, "Yeah, I'd be pretty pissed too if someone did that to me…"

The cat hissed at him, Seppuku gritted his teeth and growled back, "Hiss all you want, you need to learn control…"

Mauser revealed his claws very slowly; Seppuku raised an eyebrow at the cat.

Minutes later, Chiya was lying on a bed in only her bikini. Earl shut the door behind him and turned towards her with a smirk; Chiya lowered her eyelids at him and puckered her lips. Earl excitedly approached her while rubbing his hands together.

Chiya had already been fired up after watching him spar shirtless with Seppuku, Earl had only just fallen for her as a result of the hot tub. Both were prepared to resume where they had taken off, only this time most of their clothing was already off.

Chiya blushed and bit on her finger as Earl stopped in front of her, he grasped both of her feet and smirked at her. She got a very dreamy look on her face and exhaled.

"My lips have been feeling very neglected lately…"

Earl rubbed her soles for a few moments, then dropped her feet and climbed onto the bed, "I think I can help…"

She widened her eyes excitedly as Earl crawled on top of her with the same smirk. This wasn't the Earl she was accustomed to, this one seemed much more aggressive; he hadn't even asked for pemission to get on her. Chiya bit her lip with a look of thrill, already taken back at the fact that so much of their skin was touching together. Earl forced her head down onto the pillow and quickly locked lips with her. Chiya grunted constantly in joy.

_I can't believe we're doing this, this is going to be so much fun..!_ she thought enthusiastically. Earl continued to kiss her for several moments, he momentarily bit onto her lip and slowly began to lower his head. Chiya slightly opened her eyes with a quivering smile, she began to giggle as Earl moved onto her neck and began to suck on this. _He sure seems to know what he's doing..!_ She didn't understand what was going on, nor did Earl, but his instincts were somehow guiding him perfectly towards the extreme. He continued to kiss her neck, but continued to go down her kneck to her collarbone. Chiya widened her eyes, now realizing what he was doing. Earl got very close to her cleavage, this left Chiya scared, yet excited. She was about to have sex for the first time with the man she admired so much-or so she thought…

Just before Earl could truly seal the deal with her, a knocking could be heard at the door. Chiya gasped, Earl raised his head and widened his eyes. Chiya looked down at him and widened her eyes-she wasn't prepared to let some visitor spoil the moment. She forced his head down roughly towards her collarbone again.

"Please, continue!"

Earl retreated from this and looked past the door, "Wonder who that could-"

"It's probably no one!"

Earl sat up and got off of her, she gasped and grabbed his hand, "No, Earl! We can just answer the door in an hour or so!"

Earl got leapt off of the bed and approached the door, Chiya brought her feet together and sighed sadly with a very disappointed look. The romantic moment was dead. All that could possibly happen at this point would be plainly dirty sex.

"Who is it?" asked Earl.

"Room management!"

Earl opened the door and quirked his mouth, an employee handed him a cellular device, "Someone called for Ms. Flower."

"Huh?" he brought the phone up and quirked his mouth, "Hello?"

"Bendek, Flower, you two need to get back here, ASAP!"

Chiya widened her eyes at the sound of Seppuku's voice, Earl looked back at Chiya nervously, "Why's that?"

"Something's wrong with Mauser, something really wrong…"

"Something's wrong with Mauser?"

Earl was suddenly tackled by Chiya, the two landed on the ground roughly. Chiya snatched the phone out of his hand as her heart was beating frantically, "What's wrong with my little sweetie!?"

"Flower, get back here, right now!"

Chiya began to hyperventilate in utter fright, she dropped the phone and grabbed Earl by the neck.

"We need to get home, Mauser's in trouble!"

Earl nodded quickly, Chiya tightened her grasp around his neck, "Stop laying around and carry me back to the Red Dove!"

"Carry you? Why can't you-"

"No time!"

Chiya kicked open the door to the lobby with her mere bare foot, Earl was grunting in amazement at this.

"Holy Hell, you really can kick-"

"Seppuku!"

Seppuku was leaning against the cat door to the hallway, blocking it with a disturbed expression. He turned his head towards Chiya and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Why are you two half-naked?"

Chiya rushed into Seppuku and grabbed his shoulders with a panicked look, "What's wrong with my little Mauser!?"

Earl approached the two with an overly concerned look. Earl knew that if something bad were to happen to Mauser that resulted in death, Chiya would be heartbroken. He sometimes contemplated whether Chiya loved Mauser more than him. Seppuku turned his head towards the door and gritted his teeth.

"Mauser, he's out of control!"

"What do you mean!?"

Seppuku rolled his sleeve up slightly, revealing a few sharp cuts, "He's gone insane!"

Chiya widened her eyes, "M- Mauser hurt _you_?"

Seppuku nodded, "I don't know what's wrong, he's very wild all of a sudden…" he puckered his lips and rubbed his chin, "I just don't think I have it in me to destroy him…"

"No!" both Earl and Chiya shouted.

"You're right, I can't destroy Mauser…" Chiya exhaled softly, "I don't have a gun on me."

Chiya shook negatively very frantically, "No, no, no! Just let me talk to him!"

Seppuku grunted and tilted his head, "Talk to him?"

"He'll calm down if I talk to him," she slightly began to open the door, she looked back at Seppuku and nodded, "Trust me, I'm pretty sure I speak cat."

Earl and Seppuku exchanged glances as Chiya entered the hallway alone.

Chiya closed the door behind her and looked forward, she widened her eyes at the sight of Mauser, he was rolling around on his back constantly with a heavily disturbed look. His eyes were very sharp looking, telling Chiya that he was hostile.

"Mauser, it's me, Chiya…" the cat instantly sprung onto his paws and got down in a stalking position, "Not feeling good, honey?"

The cat fiercely looked into her eyes while growling very softly; Chiya widened her eyes at this. She very slowly began to walk towards her, she swallowed nervously while looking at Mauser. _It's not the ideal time to be in nothing but a bikini…_ she got down on her knees and clapped her hands a few times.

"Here, kitty-kitty…"

Mauser continued to look into his owner's eyes angrily, but something about Chiya's gentle voice was beginning to soothe him slightly. Chiya smiled and began to crawl towards him slowly while clapping her hands.

"It's just me, Mauser…"

Mauser momentarily began to walk towards her very slowly, Chiya smiled at him and nodded constantly. Within a few moments, both Chiya and Mauser united. He leapt onto her waist and kept balance on her legs. She puckered her lips and nodded while petting his head.

"I like the feeling of all that fur on my skin."

She reached down to rub Mauser's belly, but she immediately felt something other than his belly. She widened her eyes and grunted upon discovering something.

Seppuku was leaning against the door with Earl, who appeared very frantic. Earl knelt down and put his hand by the cat door.

"I think I should go in there…"

The door was suddenly slammed into, sending Earl and Seppuku back in shock. Chiya forced the door open while grinding her teeth furiously, Mauser was now in her arms. She glared at Seppuku with a red face.

"S- Seppuku!"

Seppuku looked at Mauser, "Did you fix him?" He grunted as Chiya had suddenly thrown a bundle of duct tape at his face, he cringed and stuck his tongue out in disgust, "Hey! Do you even know where that tape has been!?"

"Yes! Seppuku, how could you do that to a cat!?"

He shrugged, "Well, I took the duct tape and wrapped it under his body constantly-"

"No, I mean, why would you do that!? That's bloody animal abuse!"

Seppuku crossed his arms, "He wouldn't stop pissing everywhere, so I had to put an end to it…"

"He's just marking his territory! He knows to use the litterbox when he actually needs to-"

"You can't justify his actions! That cat is a real burden right now, Flower, and you know why he's pissing everywhere!"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and hugged Mauser more tightly, "I'm not doing it…"

"Face it, Flower, that cat is as horny as-"

"I'm not neutering Mauser!"

Earl scratched his chin and shrugged, "I dunno', maybe you should at least, consider it..?"

"Earl!"

"I'm just saying, I've had enough of washing my blankets every now-and-then…"

Chiya grunted and dipped her head down, "W- well, maybe that's not Mauser getting urine in your bed..?"

"What!?"

Chiya grunted in offense and glared aimlessly, "I don't know, Earl, you're sleeping at night, maybe you accidentally-"

"Flower, you need to get Mauser neutered so he puts an end to this…"

"I won't!"

"You must!"

Chiya growled very loudly and slammed her feet down loudly, the bottom of her foot turned red from such pressure, "That's not fair to Mauser!" she practically screamed. Earl and Seppuku both grunted at her sudden rage, "Why does Mauser have to but you two don't!? How would you feel if some scary person cut your penis off without permission!?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and tilted his head in confusion, Seppuku backed away from her while grunting constantly, "Cut- cut my- Flower! That's not what a neutering is!"

"Well, I know what it does! Mauser has every right to have babies if he so desires!"

"No, he's not a wild animal; he's a domesticated animal—a pet!"

Earl nodded in agreement, "Yeah, how long until Mauser reaches the stage where he wants to go outside the base? You know how fast these vehicles go, he'll get ran over!"

Chiya collapsed onto the floor with Mauser in her arms, "He's my cat!"

"-and he's in _my_ base!"

Chiya grunted loudly, "This isn't your base; it belongs to me and Earl!"

Seppuku very slowly turned his head towards Earl, "…what is she talking about..?"

Earl lowered his eyelids and rubbed the back of his head, "Well, yes, technically we are legal house owners now…"

Seppuku chuckled sarcastically, "I don't care, I built this base all by myself. This used to be a mere storage complex before I came along!" he crossed his arms and shook negatively, "Jody had no right to sell the property she wouldn't even protect from the gangs years ago…"

Chiya shook negatively while holding Mauser, "I'm not neutering him."

Seppuku flailed his hands in the air, "Then Mauser is to remain locked in your room again!"

"It's my house!"

"Right, your base, my rules…"

Chiya shook negatively at him and stood up, she opened the hallway door angrily, "Whatever, thank you for disrupting the great time me and Earl were having…" she looked back at Seppuku and narrowed her eyes, "…I forgot how very bloody irritable you could be…"

Seppuku smirked and wiggled his fingers, "Love you too."

She growled and slammed the door behind her.

Seppuku later that night found himself opening up the panels of his computer, finally resorting to the extreme to change the desktop background of the two kittens. He rubbed his forehead as he looked at all of the wiring and chips. He growled and poked a few chips aimlessly, hoping for something to happen. He slammed his fists down and shined a light into the computer.

"There's gotta' be an instruction manual somewhere around here…"

The door to his office very slowly opened, he realized this, but continued to tinker on his computer anyways. Earl closed the door behind him and locked it, Seppuku's ears pranced up at the sound of the locking.

"Who's there?"

"Bendek…"

Seppuku raised an eyebrow and looked up at him, he appeared very sad. He stared at Earl for a few moments, then began to tinker with the computer some more.

"I don't know how Flower put this cute looking background on my computer, but I'm bound to fix it eventually!"

Earl walked behind the desk and did a very simple desktop procedure, in merely eight seconds he had changed the background into an old one of Earl and Chiya together. Seppuku looked up at the screen and grunted, he exhaled in relief and nodded.

"Flower's face is still too cute for my likings, but it'll have to do…" he smirked at Earl and nodded, "Thanks."

"Seppuku, something bad happened today…"

Seppuku very slowly grinned, "…tell me more…"

Earl sat down in the seat in front of his desk and grasped his forehead with a frustrated expression. Seppuku crossed his fingers excitedly, expecting something juicy.

"While Chiya and I were in the hot tub together, I couldn't stop looking down at her chest…"

Seppuku shrugged, "So?"

He closed his eyes tightly, "But then she started doing other stuff to my mind. She wrapped her legs around me and pressed her chest against the back of my neck…"

"That's it?"

He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, "No…" he dipped his head and shook negatively, "Then, I brought her up to our room and got on top of her," his eyes began to quiver as he revisited this moment in his mind, "It started off as a simple kiss, but then I started kissing her chin, then her neck, and-"

"Alright Bendek! Way to score!"

"No! That was very inappropriate of me!"

Seppuku gritted his teeth and lowered his eyebrows, "Innapropriate?"

"Thank God you called! Another few seconds and I probably would have snapped off her bikini!"

Seppuku shook negatively, "Why do you care-" he grunted and fell back into his seat, "Wait, you two are still-"

"A lot of couples wait this long…"

"Yeah, but you're not an ordinary couple. You two are constantly hanging on each other romantically. For God's sake, you lived alone with her for nearly a year now, how haven't you gotten that far?"

"I don't want to hurt her…" he sighed and closed his eyes, "-and the obvious humiliation I may face…"

Seppuku smirked, "Yeah, she'll definitely be disappointed…"

"N- no, she won't be disappointed. I may not be very big down below; b- but I have a big heart."

"Lame."

Earl narrowed his eyes at him, "What am I going to do? I don't want Chiya to think I'm some kind of pervert!"

"That's not being perverted, after all these years of being so close together, you're body wants the full package…"

Earl got a disturbed look, "I doubt Chiya wants the full package…"

Chiya groaned in her bed with an angry look, "Dammit, so bloody close…" she curled herself up and lowered her eyelids sadly, "I'll never get to be a mother, and Mom will never get to be a grandma…"

She closed her eyes and sighed, Mauser was now sitting next to her calmly. She turned on her television and sighed again. She turned on the anime channel and sighed yet again. She grabbed her shoulders and frowned as she watched the show, she was rubbing her should gently as she turned off the lamp.

She faintly smiled and closed her eyes, her room was illuminated by the bright flashing colorful show that was on, but this wasn't distracting her from her thoughts. _That felt so amazing having Earl kiss me on all of those places…_ she faintly smiled as she proceeded to fantasize about this, wondering what could have been. She slightly blushed and chuckled to herself as she thought about this, she scrunched her toes back and clenched her fists tightly.

"Blimey, why can't Earl just come in here and free the princess trapped in this castle..?"

Earl still had his head dipped down as the two talked with each other. Seppuku crossed his fingers and smirked, "You know, both Chiya and I need you to be concentrated for tomorrow's two Throwdown matches."

"I know, I know…"

Seppuku smirked and turned his head away slightly, "Dunno', maybe you want to go into her room and get this off your mind?"

Earl grunted loudly, "I can't do that with her now! Not with you here!"

"Oh, come on, I probably won't bust into your room while you two are making soup."

"I don't feel comfortable, I have no idea what came over me at the water resort, but that's not happening again!" he grasped his head and widened his eyes, "Who knows? Maybe if I woulda' gone through with what I was doing, she would have sued me for rape…"

Seppuku laughed, "Rape? Bendek, have you seen Chiya? She's practically asking to be drilled…"

Earl narrowed his eyes, "You stay away from her…"

"Ew! Jesus! I don't want to- God, no, just, no…" he chuckled loudly and smirked, "I just like her hot ass mother."

Earl stood up and sighed, "Whatever, I'm just going to let this one fly. There are more important matters to attend to…"

"Thank you."

Earl sighed and closed his eyes, "But it's only a matter of time before Chiya starts making moves…"

Jody slammed her fists down on her desk and growled, "Blaskovitz is in the Lightning Area, playing Throwdown!?"

Rick nodded, "I did some undercover work, Blaskovitz is fighting in the ring."

She narrowed her eyes and grunted, "Why on Earth would he be doing that?"

"Don't know, but I think we could use this to resolve the Seppuku issue…" Jody crossed her arms with an intrigued look, "If we can take out Blaskovitz and track down his possessions, we can likely track down Black Shadow—assuming that he's alive."

"If we find Black Shadow, we can take care of him before Seppuku manages to join his ranks…"

"Exactly…"

Rick brushed his jacket and put his feet together, "Are we going to send a request to the Emperor for the Japanese military to clear The Krush out?"

Jody thought about this for a few moments, she momentarily smirked and shook negatively.

"I have a spy working there I can call upon, he can kill Blaskovitz himself…"

"What if this spy fails?"

Jody closed her eyes, "Then indeed we do call in the military…"

"You haven't considered the possibility of an assassination?"

Jody chuckled at the question, "This spy practically is an assassin…"

"I see…"

She closed her eyes and looked out the window, "I trust that he's already on the case…"

It was now late at night, Earl and Chiya were asleep, and Seppuku was left working at his desk. He was typing a novel on the computer about his life up to this point. He had a very concentrated look on his face.

"- his eyes were shaking, his body trembled, and his jaw was dropped. Seppuku pulled out his double-bladed chainsaw like a badass and approached the pathetic mongrel. With one deep exhale, Seppuku-" he stopped speaking aloud and typing for a moment.

Seppuku lowered his eyebrows and quirked his mouth, as if he was sensing that something was about to happen. He slowly got out of his seat and walked towards his door with a confused look. He went through the hallway and into the lobby. He remained absolutely still in the lobby with his arms dropped down straight, he scanned the room for anything strange, but found nothing. He looked at the Blood Falcon helmet in the display case for a moment and hummed. Just as that moment, something indeed strange did happen. A loud knocking was at the entrance door.

Seppuku swung his head towards the door and grunted, he clenched his fists and hesitantly walked towards the door. The knocking persisted as he walked, someone was very anxious to get in. He was almost certain that this was Jody Summer, but he was prepared to attack her. He grabbed the doorknob and licked his lips carefully, without further hesitation, he opened it. The person behind the door left him grunting.

"Oh, and who might you be..?"

The blue and red cloaked man, Berserker, turned his head up slightly and smirked at him.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant…"

Seppuku raised an eyebrow at the mysterious man, he momentarily caught a glimpse of his chin and cheekbones that were barely visible. Seppuku grinned and shook negatively.

"Ah, you have a lot of nerves showing your face around here…"

The two spent about ten minutes catching up at the dining table, the lobby lights were now on. Seppuku crossed his legs and nodded at Berserker.

"So we're in agreement then?"

Berserker nodded, "Yes, you keep pushing Earl to do this, and I'll ensure that Blaskovitz doesn't win that last match…"

Seppuku nodded as well, "You know, Flower's the only one getting in the way of this mission."

"Then _you_ need to persuade her to see otherwise."

He sneered at Berserker, "Is that some kind of order..?"

"No, it's a recommendation."

"Good."

Berserker hummed and nodded, the two proceeded to stare at each other for several moments. Seppuku leaned in towards Berserker with an angry expression.

"You and I will work together for now, however…" he gave him a very strict finger, "You do not speak to Jody about my involvement in this, period…"

Berserker nodded, "Jody knows about the mission, but not of you and Earl."

"Good, good…" Seppuku stood up and pointed at the door, "Now please, show yourself to the door."

Berserker nodded and stood up, "I suppose that's fair, your base…"

"Apparently it's not my base anymore…"

Berserker chuckled and waved farewell to Seppuku, "Farewell, I'm glad to see you standing again—Red Dove."

Seppuku stared at the door for several moments after he left. Seppuku was now feeling reassured about the mission, but of course, as always, there was one major obstacle in the way of a perfect mission involving Earl.

Chiya Flower's unbreakable affection for him.

To be continued…


	15. Lap 14

==Lap 14=

"Punch, punch, block, punch," Seppuku lectured while sparring.

Earl was once again shirtless fighting Seppuku, who was now teaching him some fairly simple fighting techniques. The first two matches of Throwdown was today, and Earl had to be in top condition for fighting. If Earl were to win against his two opponents, he would be put up against two more some other day, after that, he would be pitted up against Brock Blaskovitz—assuming that he himself makes it to the final.

Seppuku growled after Earl swung a third time, "Bendek, you block after the two punches. You might get lucky and land three punches, but chances are that your opponent will have counter-attacked pretty quickly after the first few."

Earl nodded and beat his fists together, "Has my overall strength gotten better?"

Seppuku chuckled and threw a punch, but Earl blocked it correctly, "Still not enough to send me to my knees, let alone make me exhausted; but if we're talking about your ordinary fleshbag, you should be strong enough to knock someone dead."

Earl stepped away from him with a shocked look, "Wait, I don't wanna' kill anyone."

"May I remind you that the true mission here is to kill Blaskovitz?" Earl nodded affirmatively, "Anyone who's dumb enough to sign up for Throwdown understands and accepts the risks. If killing someone is the easiest way to ensure that we reach the final, then so be it…"

Earl shook negatively, "I'll try and go for knockouts."

"Whatever…"

The two continued to spar with each other while talking about Throwdown. The door to Earl's room very slowly began to open, the slight image of Chiya's eye appeared through the crack. She blinked a few times and lowered her eyelids as she stared at Earl's biceps.

Seppuku finally managed to hit Earl, but only on the shoulder. Earl had taken up this opportunity and swiftly beat Seppuku across the face four times. Seppuku punched his hand away and continued to fight intensely. As they fought, Seppuku directed his attention towards the door and growled softly.

"See, Bendek? This is why you need to toughen up and lubricate her _Port Town_…"

Earl raised an eyebrow at him for a few moments, then turned his head towards the door. Chiya widened her eyes and quickly slipped away out of sight. Earl quirked his mouth and shook negatively.

"Chi', you can come in, we're just practicing."

A few moments of silence ensued, but Chiya slowly revealed herself and entered the room with an embarrassed blush.

"I was just watching you guys practice..."

Seppuku chuckled sarcastically, "Oh, sure you were, little slut..."

Chiya twirled her foot around and rolled her eyes, "You're getting really good at this, Earl…"

"Thank you, Chiya."

"But I also don't know if I like this…"

Seppuku crossed his arms, "Trust me, Berserker has you two safe."

Earl swung his head towards him swiftly, "I thought you said that you didn't know him."

"I do now…"

Chiya clapped her hands together with a smile, "Are you certain that we'll be okay?"

Seppuku nodded, "Against Blaskovitz, yes; against the regular four opponents—that's up to Bendek."

Earl swung his fist up enthusiastically, "I'll win!"

Chiya frowned and sat down holding her forehead, "I don't know. I wish you wouldn't do this…"

"He must!"

Earl nodded, "Come on, Chiya, if we deal with Blaskovitz, that only leaves Black Shadow and Blood Falcon. Do you honestly think Seppuku would let us lead a mission against either of those two?"

Seppuku gave Earl a thumbs up, "He's right, Blood Falcon and Black Shadow are mine. Once Blaskovitz is out of the way and I have Black Shadow in my grasp, I won't need you two anymore."

Chiya narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, "You promise that Earl and I can resume living normal lives together after this?"

Seppuku shrugged, "All I expect from you is to help me against Blood Falcon on the track, if I'm in trouble," he bowed to her with a grin, "So in other words, yes, I promise that you two are excused after this."

Chiya narrowed her eyes even more and stuck her pinkie out, "Pinkie swear?"

"What?"

"Do you swear? On the pinkie that you'll-"

"No."

Chiya gasped and glared at him, "Well, how can I trust you then!?"

Seppuku groaned and walked up to her; she beamed at him and prepared to cross pinkies with him. Seppuku pointed _a_ finger of his and crossed it with hers. Chiya and Earl both gasped loudly at this.

Chiya shook with his finger with quivering eyes, "T- that wasn't your pinkie…"

"Get your witch gear on, you two need to roll out."

Earl threw his shirt on and approached his dresser, "Alright, let's get this day on with…"

Chiya and Earl entered The Krush once more, this time more confidently. The rumor that Excalibur and Dark Rose were alive was already spreading rampantly; it was only a matter of time before Jody's ear would catch the rumor. Earl knew that he needed to beat Brock and cease all activities with the crime infested cantina.

The two walked around the cantina slowly, they were searching for Berserker, as he was now technically an ally to them. Chiya stopped moving and rubbed her chin with a confused look; Earl stopped as well and looked around the cantina.

"This sounds like a crazy thing to propose, but should we go find Blaskovitz?" asked Chiya.

Earl turned his head towards the same place Brock was, and sure enough, the muscular man sat calmly at a table. This time Brock had no women surrounding him, he was likely waiting for the tournament to begin. Earl momentarily nodded and proceeded to walk towards Brock's table.

"Excalibur, Rose!"

The two turned their heads; Brock seemed to have heard these names as well and looked over at a table. Berserker was inching his finger at the two slowly. The two walked over to his table casually, Brock raised an eyebrow at the sight of this and hummed.

Earl pulled out a chair for Chiya, who then pulled out a chair for him in return. Berserker folded his fingers and smirked.

"I've been informed by your boss that you indeed signed up for the tournament?"

Earl nodded, "Yeah, somehow you two talked me into it…"

Chiya lowered her shades and lowered her eyebrows at Berserker, "How did you contact Seppuku?"

"The Lieutenant and I had a brief discussion yesterday at your base; I merely knocked on your door."

Chiya shook negatively very slowly, "But, how did-"

"You've attracted quite a crowd, Excalibur…"

"I have?"

"Of course! Two members of Dark Million, and one will likely die…" he smirked and put his hand on the table, "But don't worry, Blaskovitz won't live to see the day when you die."

Chiya glared at him, "You better have this under control!"

"I do, Excalibur just needs to get to the final match. I can't help him against these regular opponents."

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Earl patted her back, "Look, everything's gonna' be fine..." he pointed at her firmly, "Remember the deal, if we pull this off, we resume regular lives _and_ have Seppuku not trying to kill us."

Chiya nodded slightly, something purple momentarily caught the corner of her eyes. She got an intrigued look and gazed up at a window near the ceiling, the purple clothed obese man was looking down upon the cantina.

"Who's that guy up there?"

Earl and Berserker looked up at the window, Berserker quirked his mouth in disgust.

"That's Vax, the master crime lord in charge of this establishment. He's also the owner of the red light district of Port Town."

Earl crossed his arms, "Owner of the red light district?"

Chiya widened her eyes, "Red light district? Isn't that a place for sex stuff?"

Berserker nodded, "Pimps, prostitutes, strip clubs, brothels—he owns all of that," he rubbed his fingers together and growled, "He's the boss of a lot of pimps in Port Town, he taxes the income that prostitutes make."

"Taxing prostitution..?" Earl muttered in disbelief.

"Where's the Federation to stop all of this!?"

Berserker shrugged, "There's only so many Federation officers in the universe. They hardly have enough to keep the Upper City of Mute City under control; you should understand why they can't properly care for the Lightning Area and Lower City."

Chiya continued to stare at Vax intensely, "Would you say that Vax is ruining lives?"

Berserker shrugged, "Well, he runs a lot of illegal and immoral businesses. I wouldn't say he's ruining lives, rather, he's improving lives for low-life scum."

Everyone but Berserker gasped as a large hand momentarily slammed down on the table, Brock gave Earl a very intense stare.

"Excalibur, are you prepared to die so soon?"

Earl nodded, "Well, I don't plan on dying today."

"This is nothing you are used to, this is big league fighting—not the place for little Korean martial arts."

Earl stood up and poked his chest, "You better watch yourself, Blaskovitz. Chiya killed you two years ago, what's stopping me from doing so?"

Brock cracked his knuckles, "I am stronger than ever!"

Berserker remained silent throughout this conversation; Earl crossed his arms and smirked, "Yeah, black shirt and a goggle. What an advancement."

Chiya smiled, "You're not as muscular as you used to be."

"I am very muscular!"

Chiya nodded, "But not as muscular as you were two years ago."

Brock swished his hand at her, "After I destroy Excalibur, I will present you personally to Black Shadow. Ever since the real Dark Rose died, we've been looking for a new woman to impregnate with his creations."

Chiya widened her eyes and swallowed nervously, Brock smirked and spun around, "You will need fists of steel to break me..."

Brock walked away from the two with his fists clenched. Earl simply continued to stare at Brock, Chiya was left fairly stunned by this. Berserker had a slight smirk on his face as he shook negatively.

A while later, Seppuku walked into his office with five cans of beer and two bags of popcorn. He leapt into his seat excitedly and opened up a webpage on his computer; there was a live feed of the Throwdown match that was about to start. He was on The Krush's website—which was supposed to be hidden from anyone in the Lower or Upper City, but Seppuku had a special Federation computer that could bypass this.

Seppuku cracked open a beer and grinned as he relaxed, Mauser momentarily sat on his lap and curled up into a ball.

"A-ah, here to watch Bendek kill?" the cat didn't look up at him, he was gazing at the ground as Seppuku stroked him softly, "I know, I know; apology accepted, fleabag..."

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the monthly Throwdown tournament!" the announcer shouted excitedly.

The crowd began to cheer wildly; Chiya was leaning against Earl's side of the ring nervously. No matter what Seppuku and Berserker said to her, she simply couldn't stop fearing for Earl's safety. Two days of practice didn't seem to be enough to pull off such an operation.

Earl was shirtless and without a helmet, but he was still in his Excalibur pants and boots. The platform inside of the ring was rising slowly, he looked up at the bright lights on the ceiling nervously, wondering what his opponent was going to look like. Even if he were to beat this opponent, he would have to fight another person within the same hour.

The platform merged with the ring, Earl punched his boxing gloves together and lowered his eyebrows at the sight of his opponent. The man he was facing was much taller than him, but had somewhat of an exposed gut. He was a very hairy man.

Chiya gasped and slapped her cheeks, "Oh my God! That's a lot of hair!"

The two approached each other slowly, both had serious looks. The announcer came between the two and nodded.

"Gentlemen, the crowd demands a bloody and gory match. Make it happen!"

Neither of the two responded to this, Earl quirked his lip around a few times and nodded. Chiya was biting her finger frantically; she had completely set aside her uncontrollable obsession over Earl's muscles.

The announcer held up a bell and metal rod, he looked back and forth at the two constantly, then hit the bell loudly.

Earl was immediately struck across the face two times and was sent back a few feet. Earl quickly blocked another strike and leapt away from the man. The man quickly approached Earl in a defensive stance; Earl narrowed his eyes at him and hummed softly. Underneath his glove, Earl curved his two fingers and smirked—deciding that he would change his style of fighting into a mix of Seoli Idong and Seppuku's style.

Earl very swiftly punched the man in the belly, then the face. He grunted and grabbed his belly with one hand, but Earl beat him again across the face. The man leapt back and got back in a defensive stance, Earl charged at him and smacked his fists apart with great strength. The man grabbed Earl's shoulders, but was very strongly punched across the nose.

"Gah!"

The crowd cheered for Earl, who was ultimately being unmerciful. Earl grabbed the man by the neck and shook him around a few times, Earl was punched across the face very strongly as he did this. Earl knocked him down onto the floor while pounding on his chest. Overall, Earl was landing the most punches.

"Go Ear- Excalibur!" shouted Chiya.

Earl grasped the man by the fat of his shoulders and slammed him against the floor two times. Earl was waiting for someone to throw an object into the ring for him to attack with; and someone did just that. A half-eaten sandwich was thrown into the ring. Earl lowered his eyelids disappointed by this, but he shrugged and grabbed the sandwich none-the-less. He put it up against his fist and held the man down.

"How about a knuckle-sandwich!?" Earl gloated.

Earl beat the sandwich into the man's mouth, he grunted constantly as he tried spitting the food out.

Chiya gasped, "Why didn't Earl eat the sandwich? That looked delicious..!" she said softly to herself.

The two stood back up, the man quirked his mouth a few times; his face was now red from the constant abuse. Earl stepped back and put his fists up defensively. The man shouted loudly and charged towards Earl while shouting. Earl narrowed his eyes and remained still, at the very last second; he leapt to the side and twisted his arms around the man. He groaned loudly as Earl bent his arms very forcefully.

Chiya gasped, "He _is_ using Seoli Idong…"

Earl tugged on his arms and put his foot on the man's back. Earl was thrown a blunt metal tool by a fan. He struck the man on the head with the tool with great force and kicked him down to the floor. The man collapsed instantly with one final grunt before going unconscious. The crowd cheered loudly.

"Will Excalibur finish him off!?"

Earl turned around and walked towards the exit slowly, Chiya joined him and grabbed his hand excitedly.

"Apparently not, it's a simple win by knockout!"

Earl and Chiya left the ring together, heading back for the cantina together. The crowd was somewhat disappointed to see Earl spare the man, as they were hoping for a deathblow.

Vax hummed suspiciously and rubbed his fat chin as he looked down at the defeated opponent from his office. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes slowly.

A while later, Chiya and Earl were sitting together at the cantina counter. Earl was remaining still with a grin on his face as Chiya rubbed her hands all over his body. She was trying to soothe the pain he had received from the match.

"You looked like a pro out there!"

Earl nodded, "Hope I can do it again, only got about twenty minutes until today's last match."

"You kicked his ass! Why won't you win?"

"The way a bracket tournament works, is that the next opponent is usually much tougher than the previous."

The two widened their eyes at the sound of cheering from the stadium, Earl lowered his eyebrows, understanding that Brock must have just won his match. Chiya continued to rub his shoulders happily.

"You certainly look very hot out there…"

Earl smirked and nodded, "Yeah, I bet I do."

She rested her cheek against his bicep and exhaled joyously. Earl pushed her away from his bicep and cleared his throat, "Not in public, Chiya…"

Chiya lowered her eyelids and smiled, "Can I do this in public?"

Earl turned towards her and raised an eyebrow, she very swiftly pressed her lips against his, she then put her hand on his shoulder and looked over at the table they were originally sitting at.

"Wonder where Berserker went?"

"Probably watching the tournament games."

Chiya pushed her fingers together and dipped her head down with a faint smile. She cleared her throat and puckered her lips somewhat tightly, "Um-m, so wanna' go somewhere after this?"

Earl nodded, "Sure, where to?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows with quivering eyes, "Swimming resort, again? I had so much fun there yesterday…"

Earl widened his eyes at this, he looked deep into Chiya's quivering eyes and could clearly see something that he hadn't seen the previous day. He could easily see the truth now, it indeed wasn't his fault that the two nearly had relations; it was Chiya intentionally trying to do this.

"Oh, um…"

Chiya whistled nervously, "We could go in the hot tub again, rent a room, again, and talk while watching movies or something…"

Earl was left very confused again. He was almost certain a moment ago that she had been trying to seduce him the previous day, but now he wasn't sure. Chiya was renowned for being confusing to him, there were several occasions where she would put the two in overly sexual environments, only to reveal that she wants to merely spend time with him.

Earl simply wasn't sure what she wanted, so he took the only possible safe route, "Nah, that was yesterday. Let's go somewhere new and exciting today."

Chiya lowered her eyelids in disappointment, "…maybe we should go to the medical center, check out some of the babies there…"

Earl smirked at her, taking this as a joke and not a hint, "Well, that would be something new, but I was thinking we'd do something that's fun."

Chiya turned away from him and crossed her arms in frustration, "Nevermind! Just take me home right after, I want Chiya time…"

He widened his eyes and grunted, "W- what- really?"

"Yes, win this bloody match so I can go home and snuggle with _myself_ in bed…"

Earl frowned and lowered his eyebrows sadly, "Oh, alright then…" he said in disappointment.

Earl later approached his next opponent, who was a muscular man in bright green shorts and boxing gloves. Earl had a very distracted frown on his face, feeling that he was failing to be the boyfriend Chiya wanted in some way. He couldn't put his finger on what he may have done wrong, aside from avoiding the water resort. He turned his head towards Chiya, but surprisingly she appeared excited for Earl. He faintly smiled at her, in all actuality, he knew that he wasn't going to let Chiya have any alone time when they got home. He would be catering to her as if she were a queen.

The announcer smirked at the two and held up the bell; Earl blinked a few times at the bell nervously and gritted his teeth. The bell was rung, and once again, Earl was initially beat across the face. Earl leapt back and swung his fist forward in a taunting manner. The man showed no fear as he approached Earl with very heavy footsteps. Earl lowered his eyebrows and focused on his fists, he felt that this man was likely strong and would need to be beaten through counter-defensive strikes.

The man swung at Earl, but he quickly knocked the punch away. The same thing happened with the other fist, and back to the other. Earl punched him straight up the jaw, sending saliva into the air. He rammed into the man with his head, causing him to tumble onto the floor. Earl remained standing as the man brought himself back up. Earl was very motivated at this point, jumping up and down constantly in preparation for a strike. The man growled at Earl and swung at him, Earl was knocked back a few meters. The man got back on his feet and punched him repeatedly; Earl blocked the third strike while panting.

Chiya covered her mouth fearfully; the crowd seemed to be undecided on who to root for. Earl swiftly whipped the man in the face and punched him in the gut with the other. The man counter-attacked by crashing his head down on Earl's. The crowd cringed at the sight of this, Earl fell done and grunted loudly as his opponent towered over him. Earl rolled away and got up on his rear as fast as he could. Chiya grasped her forehead and shook negatively as the two continued to exchange rough punches.

Earl grasped the man by the knee and threw him onto his back, Earl quickly leapt down and smashed his elbow onto his chest. Several items had been thrown into the ring at this point, but none were very close by. Earl pounded his fist down on the man's face constantly, the man grunted at every pound he took.

Finally, someone threw a boot up into the ring, Earl grabbed the rubber boot and locked his hand back—preparing to smash his face in with it. Just before Earl could do this, the man did something mildly disturbing and unprofessional.

Chiya and the crowd gasped as the man quickly grasped onto Earl's crotch, he too gasped at the fact that the man did this. Earl thrusted his hand down towards his face and smashed the boot into his face—but not before the man could tightly squeeze Earl's crotch.

Both men shouted in absolute pain, Earl collapsed onto the ground immediately while holding his crotch. His opponent had fallen unconscious. The crowd cheered for Earl; he had successfully made his way through the first two opponents. The next two fights would be somewhere after the first race of the Grand Prix.

Chiya continued to cheer, but momentarily gasped after realizing that Earl was in pain. He continued to lay on the floor in absolute pain, he very slowly began to get up, but he shouted in agony as he did so.

She gritted her teeth and quickly jumped into the ring to help him.

Several hours later, Chiya was sitting in Seppuku's office. Seppuku had his hands locked together the entire time as he looked at news articles; the biggest headlines were centered on tracking down Seppuku.

"Fifteen-million credits for my capture…" he chuckled and shook negatively, "You would need to spend a lot more than fifteen-million to afford some of the tools needed to take me down…"

He glanced over at Chiya and raised an eyebrow, she had her feet up on the chair and had her arms wrapped around her legs with a very scared expression. Seppuku tapped his finger down constantly and cleared his mouth.

"Chiya, what's wrong with you? You're acting like you just saw a squirrel."

She lowered her eyebrows and quirked her mouth, "…a squirrel?"

"Yeah, you're clearly petrified…"

"A squirrel isn't scary."

Seppuku shivered, "Yes they are. Creepy little demons…"

Chiya shook negatively at Seppuku, not even regarding this strange phobia, "I'm so scared for Earl…" she bit on her finger nervously, "He was in a lot of pain, I can only imagine some of the bad things the doctor may have diagnosed at the hospital…"

Earl had been brought home immediately after the second match, but he insisted on going to the hospital. Chiya allowed him to drive the _Purring Kitten_ on this occasion. The final strike Earl's opponent had made was strictly against regulations, no sport in the universe allowed the groping of any sexual organ—legal or not.

The doorknob turned, Chiya gasped and spun her head around swiftly. Seppuku had a somewhat excited look, anxious to discover what kind of injury Earl had received. Earl slowly entered the room with his legs spread apart slightly; Chiya widened her eyes at this and grunted.

"Earlie'! What did they tell you, are you alright!?"

Earl nodded, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

"But what's wrong-"

"I'm fine; I'll make a full recovery very soon."

Chiya bowed to him, "I'm happy that you're okay…"

Earl smiled at her slightly and nodded; he glanced over at Seppuku and cleared his throat. He pointed back at the door, "Chiya, can you let me speak to Seppuku in private, please?"

Chiya widened her eyes, but bowed none-the-less, "Okay."

She walked towards the door gleefully; her hair swished back and forth as she hurried out the door and closed it. She didn't necessarily shut the door, however. Earl spun around slowly towards Seppuku and sighed.

"Now that Drama Queen's gone…" he beamed and clapped his hands together, "Let's be serious, how serious is this injury?"

Little did the two know, Chiya had her ear up to the door crack with a curious look. She knew that Earl was lying to her, she wanted to know everything about the injury—especially if it was lethal or not. She lowered her eyebrows at what Seppuku had said and let out an insulted gasp. _I'm not a drama queen..!_

Earl groaned and very gently sat down; he cringed and grunted in pain as he did this. He looked up at Seppuku and sighed.

"Doctor says that I bruised my, _you-know-what's_…"

Seppuku immediately broke out into laughter, "Oh my God! That must hurt so badly!"

He nodded, "They do hurt, I can hardly walk or sit down."

"Wheelchair?" he proposed.

"I just got out of that thing; God knows I don't want to get back in it."

Seppuku chuckled and crossed his arms, "Poor Flower…"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows sadly; she could hear Earl let out a sigh. She rubbed her chin and backed away from the door. She remained still for a few moments, simply staring at the door in sorrow. She widened her eyes as the doorknob turned; she grunted and quickly forced herself against a wall. She closed her eyes and began to whistle as Earl walked into the hallway. He widened her eyes at her and gritted his teeth.

"Chiya, you weren't eavesdropping, were you?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously and shook negatively, "Me? No way, I was just waiting for you so I can help you."

Earl nodded with a smile, "Well, I greatly appreciate it," he closed his eyes and fake grinned, "I pulled a muscle near my crotch; it's making it very hard to walk."

Chiya widened her eyes and gasped. _He's lying to me? His girlfriend..?_ She swallowed and tugged on her collar, "So-o, _near_ your crotch?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Like, above or below the crotch?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows at her, "Above."

Chiya frowned at him, realizing that he was going to continue lying to her face. He sighed loudly and dropped his arms down, "I'll make a full recovery, don't worry…"

She nodded slowly, "Come on then, you need to get in bed so I can take care of you."

Earl smirked, "I'm not sick, Chiya…"

"But you can't walk."

Earl grabbed her hand and smiled, "I wanted to take care of _you_ when we came home, since I shot down your idea of the swimming resort again."

Chiya snapped her fingers, "That woulda' been nice…"

Earl leaned against the wall with her and sighed, "I'd still like to make you feel cared for, regardless of my injury."

Chiya slowly looked down at his crotch and lowered her eyebrows, "So-o, does _any_ form of touch hurt..?" he shrugged and nodded slightly, "You can't have any pressure on it or anything?"

Earl crossed his arms and sighed somewhat angrily, "It hurts, I just want to take it easy..."

She crossed fingers with him and nodded respectfully, "Okay, I understand..."

Seppuku was later walking down the hallway of the base with a fairly bored expression; he groaned and swished his hand in the air a few times. He hadn't realized one thing when he agreed to return to Mute City; he wasn't allowed to leave the base.

"This is so damn boring..." he turned his head towards Earl's door and hummed, "Those two have gotten much worse..." he narrowed his eyes at the door and hummed.

Earl very slowly ran a thick teal coating of paint down Chiya's toenail. The nail was completely covered with paint in a single simple brush. Earl moved to the next toe as Chiya was lying on the opposite side of the couch joyfully. She exhaled and opened her eyes slightly; she looked down at him with a smirk.

"Earl? Why do you like my feet so much?"

He looked up and smirked, "Why do you like my upper body so much?"

She smiled at him and lowered her eyelids, "I don't know..." she bit her lip and turned her head away, "I guess the thought of someone as scrawny as me, being swept off my feet by such a strong man is a bit—exhilarating..."

Earl nodded with a smirk; Chiya raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer. Earl shrugged at her, "You don't go barefoot and you don't wear sandals; I guess I'm just attracted to your feet because it's the part of your body I never get to see."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and looked down at her chest, "B- but, there are other places you've never seen..."

Earl fake coughed to force the conversation to a stop, "That injury must have come with a head cold," he joked.

Chiya dipped her head down and nodded, "Sorry..."

He flipped over onto his belly with the same smirk and nodded, he held his cheek as he looked into her eyes, "We still have about ten days before the Grand Prix starts..."

Chiya groaned, "I'm so excited!" Earl grinned at her and nodded, "The Purring Kitten's performance is much more optimal this year-"

"No, I mean, yeah I can't wait for the Grand Prix; but starting on that day, our rooms become one!"

Earl grinned nervously and closed his eyes, "Yes, I'm true to my word..."

Earl hadn't previously accounted for the fact that sexual activity could intensify because of this; especially since Chiya wore a mere gown to bed and nothing else. He felt that his days of staying fresh were thinning. Perhaps not the first day, but Earl was certain that if he made Chiya wait too long, he'd eventually find himself being forcefully touched in his sleep without permission.

He blinked at Chiya's pretty eyes a few times and nodded with a nervous smile, "Yeah, it'll be nice..." he lowered his eyelids and sighed, "I really need to step up the game and get Project Neptune fully saved up for..."

Chiya clapped her hands, "Come on, tell me what you're saving up for!"

Earl smirked, "It's a secret."

"For two-million credits, it must be something pretty massive!"

Earl closed his eyes and smirked, "Maybe."

Chiya raised her foot into the air and put her toes on Earl's chin, he grunted and widened his eyes at this.

"What are you doing?"

"You like feet, don't-"

Suddenly Seppuku kicked open the door, alarming both of them. Chiya turned her head instantly while trembling. Seppuku pointed at the two, but grunted at the sight of Chiya's foot on Earl's chin.

"W- what are you doing?"

Chiya dropped her foot down and cleared her throat, "Nothing!"

Seppuku continued to stare at her while shaking his head negatively, "You two are so weird..."

Earl chuckled, "How can we help you, sir?"

He crossed his arms and swished his mouth around, "I'm bored, so we're all going to have fun."

Chiya's eyes got very wide, "F- fun?"

Seppuku nodded, "I've reached the abyss of my boredom, so I want us to all do something fun together."

Earl scratched his chin, "...define _fun_..."

Seppuku shrugged, "Come on, find something for us all to do."

Chiya and Earl exchanged glances. If it were Chiya asking to do something fun, he would have a large variety of things to do with her; as for Seppuku, his definition of fun usually involved very gory scenes.

Seppuku stomped his foot down with vicious teeth, "Come on, let's go! It's God damn play time!"

Jody sighed loudly as she switched on the electric chair she had put Seppuku on. The room was briefly illuminated by the blinding flash of the electric bolt. The bolt left a very dark mark on the side of the machine. She sighed and shook negatively at this.

"How did he survive..?" she muttered in awe.

It was only so long ago that Jody had been heart crushed by the execution of Seppuku, now that he was indeed walking again, she found herself wanting him dead again. There was little reasoning with Jody, she had a mission and was determined to complete it.

She turned around and walked towards the door leading to the HQ's stairway. She exited floor negative thirteen and proceeded back up the stairs slowly. Her eyebrows were lowered as she climbed, completely concentrated on solving the mystery, and most importantly, where Seppuku could have fled to. Deep inside, part of her did feel very guilty. She was convinced that if there truly was a chance of Seppuku wanting to side with the Federation against Dark Million—that chance was gone now.

She opened the door to the HQ lobby and rubbed her forehead in confusion. Every single piece of the Seppuku predicament was a mystery: His survival, his current location, and his motives.

Jody prepared to enter the elevator leading to her office, but she came to an instant stop at the sight of someone leaning against a wall. She grunted and quickly turned her head. Golden boots, golden gloves, blue racing suit, yellow scarf, and a red visor helmet with a golden falcon on top.

Jody stepped back and grunted, "Captain Falcon?"

He nodded and approached Jody, "Were you heading up to your office, Ms. Summer?"

Jody quickly nodded, "Yes."

Captain Falcon held the elevator door open for her and nodded, "Please, if I may bother you for a few moments..?"

Jody blinked a few times at him with gritted teeth.

"Absolutely not!" she shouted angrily at her desk.

Captain Falcon crossed his arms, "Lieutenant Seppuku is your last chance at stopping Black Shadow in the scenario that I perish."

Jody chuckled, "Black Shadow's dead, Captain."

"So why are you trying so hard to destroy the Lieutenant?"

Jody glared at him with a fake smile, "Hm-m, well, what do you think?" she rolled her eyes and flailed her hand in the air, "Am I trying to kill him for the many people he's killed? For the countless acts of sexual harassment? Oh, or perhaps because he retired you from the last race two years ago?"

"You know just as well as I do that the Lieutenant is anything but human."

Jody nodded, "Well, duh…" she put her hands together and shrugged, "Black Shadow always claimed that there was a Blood Dove upon humanity to protect all living beings…" she shook negatively, "That's a Dark Million belief, and I'm skeptical on it. Is it possible that Black Shadow was right about this _one_ thing, that perhaps, God created an archangel to come down and protect us?"

"I'm surprised you don't label him as a fallen angel."

Jody sighed and nodded, "Yeah, well…" she looked him in the eyes strictly, "He is a fallen angel. A man, who once served under the Federation to protect the galaxy, has now become some deranged maniac who probably _gets off_ to video footage of people bleeding to death."

"That's unfair, Jody."

She slammed her fist down loudly, "Life isn't fair! The people can call me whatever; communist, Nazi, fascist, Satan—whatever. Today I may look a bit dark hearted, but they'll be thanking me in the future when we live in a universe that's free from Black Shadow!"

Captain Falcon shook negatively at her, Jody narrowed her eyes at him, "You realize that he'll likely be competing in the Grand Prix again, right?"

"Yes, that's why I've come here today…" Jody raised an eyebrow at him, Captain Falcon pointed strictly at her, "I will be allying with both Seppuku and Chiya again this year."

"What!?"

"I should warn you, attacking Seppuku on the track will be a very bad idea. If you do, I will defend him," he crossed his arms firmly, "Remember, Jody, any rival of mine is instantly hated amongst the fans. Mind you, I do possess more than sixty percent of the fan base…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's not do anything rational, Captain; if you defend Seppuku by attacking me, the universe will hate the Federation. We very well may see uprisings start!"

Captain Falcon nodded, "Then I believe we're at a mutual understanding?"

Jody growled intensely, "No! I don't understand!" she flailed her hands wildly, "Why are you supporting him!? He might be working for Dark Million _right now_ for all we know!"

"He's not."

"You don't know that!"

Captain Falcon sighed and looked away from her, "I'm not here to declare war on the Federation in the Grand Prix—that would be ridiculous…" he slowly turned towards her and nodded, "I'm merely siding with Team Hero—not Team Chaotic."

"…you're acting childish, Falcon; you know deep inside that Seppuku is the bad guy here…"

"Should Seppuku be imprisoned? Yes, but executed..?" he smirked at her and shook negatively, "A good leader can't make decisions that rational, unless it's absolutely necessary…"

Jody narrowed her eyes at him and growled, "…get out of my office…" he grunted and stepped back in awe at the order, "I expected good news from you, like information on the Lieutenant's location. You're just _attempting_ to lecture me…"

Captain Falcon shook negatively at her; he swished his hand at her and proceeded towards the elevator with nothing more to say. Jody crossed her arms furiously and looked down at her desk. He closed her eyes tightly and growled in fury.

She grabbed her pen and fired it across the room in rage.

"Damn it all!" she shouted loudly.

Seppuku had a very displeased look on his face, Chiya had a cute smile, and Earl had a look of pride.

"Bendek, this is terrible…"

He turned towards him and shrugged, "What do you mean?"

Seppuku dropped his gaming controller and groaned, "Why would I want to F-Zero race on a video game? In ten days we'll be racing on this exact same track!"

Chiya was racing as a white and pink version of Captain Falcon, she wasn't doing too badly either; ultimately, Earl was in first. They were on the Big Blue track—the same track they would be going to for the first race of the Grand Prix.

Earl smirked, "Come on, man; you get to play as Blood Falcon in this game."

Seppuku was indeed playing as Blood Falcon, but not happily, "This game is disgusting. You can play as Black Shadow for God's sake..."

"It's a game."

"Would you play as Hitler if he were in a video game?"

Earl shrugged with a smirk, "Yeah, probably."

Seppuku shook negatively, "You people are terrible."

Chiya gasped loudly and crashed into a wall, "What!? How could anyone make that turn!?"

Earl smirked, "Better be careful, the in-game track is an exact replica. You'll have to make that same turn."

Chiya gritted her teeth as she continued to race, "I'm so screwed…"

Seppuku nodded in agreement, "There's always next year…"

Earl glared at him, "Shut your mouth, Chiya's gonna' rock this year."

Seppuku looked onto the screen and gasped at the sight of something, the _White Cat_ passed his motionless machine. He grinded his teeth and picked up the controller.

"How do I kill!?"

Earl raised an eyebrow, "X or Z…"

Seppuku struggled to catch up with the _White Cat_, he had a very concentrated look on his face, "I'm not gonna' let that bat beat me…"

"…the White Cat is ahead of you by an entire lap…"

"But she hasn't won yet…"

Seppuku drove up to the _White Cat_ and began to attack aimlessly, hoping to strike her. He mashed X and Z randomly, his machine was spinning constantly and swerving around the _White Cat_. After several seconds of attacking, he landed a strike on her. The _White Cat_ was propelled forward and exploded. He ran over the corpse, leaving a massive explosion. Seppuku got a big smile on his face.

"I take back what I said; this might be the best thing ever made."

Chiya sighed and shook negatively, "All we had to tell him is that Jody was killable in this-" Chiya gasped as Seppuku boosted up to her and side attacked her, instantly retiring her, "Seppuku!"

Seppuku began to laugh, "Killed Falcon and Jody, who's next?"

Chiya tossed her controller down and pouted sadly, "I thought you wanted to have fun…"

"I am having fun."

"You just killed my Captain Falcon!" Seppuku shrugged, Chiya narrowed her eyes and looked at Earl, "That's it; Earl! Tell me some cheat codes!"

Earl raised an eyebrow, "Cheat codes? I don't know any."

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes; she momentarily stood up, "Well, I'm going to go find some!"

Seppuku wiggled his fingers farewell at her.

Chiya was searching Seppuku's computer for cheats, but she was only finding easter eggs and tips. She growled softly and lowered her eyebrows as she looked around frantically. She was mostly only finding information on the upcoming F-Zero video game. She sighed and shook negatively.

"Why am I even looking for-" her eyes widened upon spotting something just before closing the webpage, "Wh- what the…" she found her name mentioned in an article about the new F-Zero game, "What the Hell!"

'_Chiya Flower absent in upcoming F-Zero video game_'. Her eyes were quivering in shock at this; naturally, she clicked on the article and read in rage.

_Returning F-Zero racer, Chiya Flower, will not be included in the upcoming F-Zero video game; however, Brock Blaskovitz and Princia Ramode will be included…_ Chiya could feel her face boiling up upon reading this. _Publishers claim that including Chiya Flower would only promote the planet of Mysteria. The F-Zero video game fan base has expressed great discontent over this announcement, especially pro-female activists…_ she slammed her fists down and growled.

"What the Hell! That's not fair!"

_When asked as to why celebrities such as Blood Falcon would return, and not Chiya Flower, the publishers claim that Blood Falcon is simply too famous not to include into a new F-Zero title…_

Chiya clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes furiously; her face was somewhat red in frustration. The very first thing Chiya did in retaliation to this video game crisis was simple; she would publically complain.

Chiya opened her social media page and narrowed her eyes as she prepared to post a response to her peers.

"_In regards to the decision to exclude me from the upcoming F-Zero video game_…" she typed aloud furiously…

To be continued…


	16. Lap 15

==Lap 15=

Chiya was lying in bed happily; an immense smile had overtaken her as she slept calmly tucked in. Her smile was unshakable; the comfortable rest was bringing very joyful dreams to her.

"…Chi-iya-a…" Earl gently whispered.

Chiya hummed happily and dipped her lips under her bed, "…you can kiss me _anywhere_, Earl…" she muttered in her sleep.

She continued to smile while sniffling somewhat in her sleep. She momentarily widened her eyes as Earl pressed his lips against the tip of her nose. She gasped and launched herself up while hyperventilating.

"E- Earl, um, good morning!"

Earl had a very big smile on his face as he looked deep into her eyes, he chuckled softly and sat down on the bed, "…did you, sleep well?"

She beamed and nodded, "I woke up well, too."

He nodded while looking deep into her eyes, "I didn't see you ever again last night, I missed you…"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "Uh, yeah…"

"Did you ever find those…" he widened his eyes at her, "Cheats..?"

She grunted and glanced away from him, "No-o..?"

He softly chuckled and closed his eyes, "Well, I'm glad you had a great night of sleep…" Chiya blinked at him a few times as he chuckled softly, he turned towards her slowly and lifted up a sheet of paper, "I thought I would read you something…"

"Oh?"

Earl cleared his throat and looked down at the paper, "_In regards to the decision to exclude me from the upcoming F-Zero video game…_" Chiya widened her eyes and grunted, "_I, and many others, are outraged. This is probably going to be the worst video game ever invented. The makers are probably sexist against women, the decision to put Princia Ramode in, but not Chiya Flower, is very mean of them…_" Chiya dipped her head down and rubbed the back of her head, "_I think the best course of action to take, is for us to boycott the game! If you're a true Chiya Flower fan, don't buy this sexist filth! Stand up against the man and buy a game about cooking instead! BTW I'm so excited for the Grand Prix!_" Earl lowered the paper and smirked at her, "…_colon three_…"

"Okay, yes, I wrote that…"

Earl closed his eyes and sighed with a smile, "Do you realize what you did wrong?"

Chiya shook negatively, "I overreacted?"

He shook negatively and crossed his arms, "This morning, the makers of the upcoming F-Zero video game announced that Chiya Flower _would_ be a playable character."

"Really!? But why did they change their mind?"

"Chiya, you need to be careful what you post online…" Chiya gasped, "You're a very famous celebrity with a massive fan base; you have the power to influence how people think, simply by speaking your mind…"

She puckered her lips and grasped her forehead, "Wow! B- but that's a good thing!"

"It can be, if you use this power responsibly…"

Chiya chuckled deviously and rubbed her hands together, "…Oh, I will…"

Chiya forced herself through the door to Seppuku's office with a smile, "Hi, Seppuku!"

Seppuku looked up and raised an eyebrow, "What is it?"

She came to a quick stop in front of his desk and puckered her lips, she pointed down at his computer a few times, "I need your computer for a sec, okay?"

"Ha! I thought we went through this already; if you want computer access, you buy your own damn computer!"

"It's the family computer!"

Seppuku smashed his fist down, "It's _my_ computer!"

She frowned and dropped her arms down, "But you don't even know how to use it…"

"What!?"

"Well, you didn't have this kind of machinery back in your day as a young adult; therefore I-"

"I was operating computers since you drank out of a bottle!"

Chiya glared at him with a prideful smirk, "Ha! Jokes on you!" she crossed her arms and chuckled, "I never used a bottle, I used my mother…"

"What is it you want with my computer anyways?"

"I need it so I can socialize with my fan base."

"That's pretty pointless."

Chiya slammed her fists forward onto his desk, "Lies! I have powers!"

"Powers?"

"I can influence people!"

"Influence?"

Chiya rolled her eyes and groaned, "Oh for God sakes, can I just show you?"

Seppuku now had an intrigued look on his face; he nodded and moved aside for her. Chiya sat down in the seat and grabbed the mouse; she looked up at the screen with a smile.

"So can I close out this…" she squinted and quirked her mouth, "_Top five funniest methods of gory torture_..?" she widened her eyes and glanced over at him.

"Yeah, yeah, you can close that."

She lowered her eyelids at him and sighed; she looked at the screen and momentarily entered her social media page. Seppuku raised an eyebrow and cross his arms at the page, he squinted and looked at her previous posts.

"_Earlie' my Hercules went out and bought me an Easter egg for Easter. What a scrumptious man he is!_" Chiya dipped her head down and blushed slightly; Seppuku shook negatively, "You're strange…"

Chiya smiled and put her fingers on the keyboard, "Okay, okay, watch this…"

She began to type a new post on her wall, Seppuku watched with a look of intrigue. Even he had to admit, Chiya seemed to lack spelling errors in her words. She bit her lip while chuckling deviously.

"Wait, wait…" Seppuku wasn't very impressed so far, he trusted that Chiya was likely just wasting his time, "_Anyone who is looking for a relaxing time should go search for an onsen…_" she read aloud.

Seppuku sighed, "What did that have to do with anything?"

"Click!"

She made the very simple post, but just as she had expected, it only took her mere seconds for massive reception to form. Her comment was instantly shared and favorited by many.

"See? Look! I have powers!"

"What am I seeing?"

She pointed at the rapidly increasing numbers of favorites and shares, "Right there! Look how many people care about what I say!"

Seppuku leaned in towards the monitor and hummed; Chiya looked at him with a smile and put her hands together. Seppuku shook negatively, "Those are fake people, likely just computerized AI programmed to be your friend…"

Chiya shook negatively and pointed at the screen, "That's not true, look, even Earl has a page," she narrowed her eyes and turned towards him, "Wait, what am I saying, _you_ have a page on this, don't you?"

"Wait, so you're actually telling me that…" he slammed his hands down in awe, "You have slaves..?"

She rubbed her arm and shrugged, "Well, I wouldn't call them slaves…"

He clapped his hands and chuckled, "Nice! You control all of those people, you have your own empire!"

Chiya beamed, "I know!"

He put both of his hands on her shoulders, "Well, don't waste time, rule your subjects!"

Chiya put her finger on her lip and hummed, "But what should I say?"

"Tell them that the Federation is evil…"

She shook negatively, "I should probably do something smaller…"

"Like what?"

She crossed her arms and quirked her mouth, "Well…" she widened her eyes and beamed, "_Show your support to the many homeless kitties of the universe by adopting at a pet shelter!_" she said while typing.

Seppuku was clearly displeased by this, finding that this wouldn't benefit her directly in any way, "Are you kidding me?"

Chiya groaned and rolled her eyes, "Fine-e…" she moved her fingers back to the keyboard, "-_this includes dogs_…"

Earl had come through the door just as Chiya posted this; he widened his eyes upon seeing the two behind the desk. Seppuku was letting Chiya mess around on his computer without a fight, so he knew that something was up. He approached the two with a look of suspicion.

"What are you two doing?"

Seppuku grinned, "Controlling Chiya's empire."

Chiya glanced up at him and smiled, "Hello."

Earl slapped a piece of paper down on the desk and nodded, "I've been doing some research, and I've found a fairly inexpensive place we can stay at while on Big Blue."

"Oh boy!" Chiya said excitedly.

Seppuku chuckled and shook negatively, "_We_?"

The two looked at him in surprise, Earl raised an eyebrow, "Yeah. You, me, and Chiya."

"-and how am I to keep the Red Dove from being uncovered?"

Earl widened his eyes and snapped his fingers, "Damn, didn't think about that…"

Seppuku planned on entering the Grand Prix again, but the central problem with this was that the world would now be looking for him. He couldn't simply rent a hotel room and keep his machine out in the open; especially if it were parked next to the _Purring Kitten_. No matter what the case, Seppuku would need to work around these obstacles.

"I'll stay in your ship; you two can do whatever on the actual planet."

Chiya quirked her mouth and dipped her head down, "Are you sure that you'll be safe staying alone in that ship?"

"Yeah, yeah…"

She narrowed her eyes, "-and you'll stay _in_ the ship at all times..?"

Seppuku smirked and dipped his head down, "…yeah…"

Earl gave him a straight finger, "Seriously, don't leave the ship. If there is any evidence leading to the conclusion that we're harboring you; we'll all pay the price."

"Yeah, yeah! I said I'll stay in the ship."

Earl and Chiya exchanged doubtful glances, but they would simply need to trust him. Chiya looked into Earl's eyes and smiled, "When are we leaving for Big Blue?"

He shrugged, "There's still about a week and a half left, but we could certainly leave early."

"That sounds great!"

Seppuku shook negatively, "I don't wanna' leave today."

Chiya frowned, but nodded none-the-less, "Can we leave soon?"

Seppuku nodded, "How about in two days?"

Chiya glanced over at Earl; he didn't seem to object to this date. Chiya looked back at Seppuku and nodded, "Sounds good."

Earl grinned and stretched his arms, "Well, that settles it then. We'll be vacationing until the Grand Prix."

Seppuku clenched his fists and sighed, "With that bat breathing down my neck, I doubt I can go out looking for Blood Falcon…"

"Eh, Blood Falcon will be a pushover this year…" said Earl.

"Yeah! I'm sure you and I can take down one single racer without much of a problem…"

Seppuku poked the tip of her nose, "Don't underestimate the power of the Blood Hawk…"

Earl chuckled defiantly, "Don't underestimate the powers of the Purring Kitten and Red Dove…"

Chiya got a prideful smirk and shrugged, "I can probably beat Blood Falcon…"

"I don't doubt that you can; but remember, any machine that comes from Dark Million can probably take quite a hit."

Chiya stood up and walked around the desk and towards the door, she chuckled and shook negatively, "Come on, Earl; let's go practice out in Red Canyon."

Earl nodded and approached her, Seppuku sat perfectly still behind his desk with a dull expression. He watched as the door quickly slammed behind Earl, leaving Seppuku alone in his office. Seppuku found himself actually nervous; he wasn't sure what the two would be put up against, but he felt that Blood Falcon, being the last Dark Million racer, would have some special trick up his sleeve…

Chiya was later darting across the same gorge in Red Canyon that she had been practicing in before. Earl was once again standing out in the distance keeping time for her, this time she was merely driving around the gorge in very fast circles. The body of the _Purring Kitten_ was becoming fairly dirty at this point.

Earl exhaled happily while watching the machine. As time went by, Earl questioned why he hadn't settled down with Chiya much earlier. He went an entire year being Chiya's best friend, but he never would have imagined that the two were meant to be much more. Though he was overly nervous of the future, he was very open to the idea of Chiya becoming his wife. He was even prepared to take on the new title of _Dad_.

Earl was left with lowered eyelids as he began to daydream about his girlfriend. Chiya on the other hand, was doing quite the opposite for once. She was fantasizing about Big Blue, arguably the most popular planet for F-Zero racing. She was excited to see what kind of aquatic life they would encounter.

She closed her eyes and chuckled as she envisioned herself riding a dolphin, "That's what'll happen…" Chiya tugged on her headset with a smile, "Earlie', do you think I could ride a dolphin on Big Blue?"

"…you're as cute as a dolphin…"

Chiya raised an eyebrow and got a cute smile of intrigue, "U-uh, thank you…"

Earl shook his head and cleared his throat, "Well, I'm not sure that the government would be content letting us mount any aquatic life."

"Darn…"

"But we could ask; I'm not even sure if there are any dolphins on Big Blue, but we can certainly ask."

Chiya did a sharp spin around the gorge and proceeded towards the center again. Earl was staring at the machine with a grin, but as Chiya drove closer to him, a disturbing noise could be heard coming from behind.

"Ya-aho-o!"

"Ho ho!"

"Ya-argh!"

Earl grunted and spun around quickly, Chiya caught site of this as well and widened her eyes. She drove up to Earl and came to an immediate stop. Samurai Goroh was sliding down the cliffs with some of his pirates. Chiya opened her cockpit and leapt down by Earl, he appeared ready for any type of conflict to form.

Goroh landed on the ground with his pirates and began to chuckle loudly.

"Oh, what now..?" Chiya groaned in irritation.

Goroh approached the two while flailing his arms in the air wildly, "I just saw that you were trespassing in _my_ canyon again, thought I'd come to greet you!"

Earl looked around the crowd for Antonio Guster, but unfortunately he seemed to be elsewhere. Guster was the only one keeping Goroh in line the last time they encountered him.

"Where's Guster?" asked Earl.

Goroh cracked his knuckles, "He's preparing our vessel for some good ol' space plundering."

Chiya hummed while nodding, "Well, if you don't mind, we're trying to practice for the Grand Prix…"

Goroh lowered his eyebrows and nodded, "Where's Seppuku?" he demanded.

Chiya widened her eyes, "Huh?"

He began to chuckle loudly, "Turning Seppuku in to the Federation would fetch a fine credit or two…"

Earl and Chiya exchanged glances; Chiya grabbed her cheeks and shook negatively, "Wouldn't the Federation just arrest you, rather than rewarding you?"

Goroh smirked and crossed his arms, "You don't understand just how badly they want Seppuku…"

"Oh my…"

"So again, I ask; where is Seppuku!?"

Earl shook negatively, "Who knows!"

"You know…"

Chiya shook negatively, "No, we don't. Seppuku still plans on killing us for leaving him to be executed."

Goroh looked deeply into her eyes, searching for a bit of untruth in her words. Her eyes were very still and her stance was firm. Goroh sighed and swished his hand in the air.

"Anyways…" he swung his finger towards Chiya, "Are we still allied for this Grand Prix?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and nodded with crossed arms, "I guess…"

Goroh turned his head towards his crew, "Hear that boys? We'll be swimming in prize money soon enough!"

The pirates began to cheer in excitement at this news, Chiya and Earl continued to exchange confused glances. Chiya finally sighed and turned her head towards Goroh.

"Do you have any aspirin?"

Goroh raised an eyebrow, "Headache?"

Chiya smiled at him, "Yes, I tend to get bad headaches when I'm greatly irritated."

Seppuku was sitting behind his desk with Mauser sleeping on his lap, he had a very gentle harmonic melody playing on his computer. His feet were rested up on the desk as he treated himself to a good book. He chuckled and shook negatively upon reading a sentence.

"Oh, that's so pathetic…" he muttered aloud while chuckling.

He flipped the page and quirked his mouth as he read, he smirked and chuckled softly, "_-growing a pimple on my lip, I just hope that Earl won't mind; our lips are in love and shouldn't be kept away from each other for long…_" he slapped his hand over his face and began to laugh, "My God, Flower…"

Of course, Seppuku wasn't reading an actual book—he was reading Chiya's diary again.

"_Dear diary, Earl's been sick for two days now. I've been caring_ _for him every day, but Mauser's litter box is filling up quickly! I can hardly stand to sleep in my own room because of the odor, and I can't sleep in bed with Earl. What should I do God!?_" Seppuku laughed loudly and rubbed Mauser's forehead, "Good, good…"

At that moment, Seppuku was somewhat startled as the phone began to ring. He grunted and looked at the phone in surprise. The phone was ringing constantly, but Seppuku was unsure of what to do. He hummed and tapped his lip a few times while staring at the phone. Ultimately, he decided to pick it up.

He raised the phone up to his head and lowered his eyebrows, "Hm?" he merely answered.

"Hello, it's Jody," Seppuku gritted his teeth in response, "Who am I speaking with?"

"Chiya," he answered in a very girlish voice.

Seppuku face palmed after answering, instantly wondering why he said that. He dragged his hand down his face and exhaled loudly in frustration.

"Chiya, I'm just calling to do a checkup."

Seppuku rubbed his chin and nodded, "A checkup? A checkup on what, Jody?"

"Like it or not, Seppuku's out there, and he wants you two dead…" Seppuku smirked and nodded, "I only called to make sure that you're okay."

Seppuku hummed again, "A- are you close to finding him?"

Jody remained silent for a few moments, she momentarily cleared her throat, "Do you have a cold?"

"No, I have a serious case of the mono," he giggled like a stereotypical girl and put his finger up to his lip with a gleeful smile, "Just can't stop sucking on Bendek's face!"

"Mhm—m, I see…" she sighed loudly, "Well, anyways, I'll be going now-"

"Jody, wait!"

"Hm?"

Seppuku began tap his fingers on his desk constantly with a sly expression, "Blimey, I- I'm just having these _feelings_ lately…"

"Feelings?"

"I just feel so dirty, how can I control these urges I'm having?"

Jody grunted loudly, "I can't help you with that, Chiya…"

Seppuku quirked his mouth, "No, I understand, I'm hideous and will never get that far with Earl!"

Jody gasped, "C- Chiya, you're not ugly…"

Seppuku smirked, "Yes I am…"

"No, you're a beautiful woman; any guy would be lucky to have you as a partner…"

Seppuku fake sniffled, "Really?"

"I bet if you just go bring Earl some flowers, he'll definitely make you feel better." Seppuku resisted the urge to laugh, he covered his mouth and exhaled humorously, "You and I are the romantic types, and we always get what we want in the end."

Seppuku shook negatively with a smirk, "Did you ever have a boyfriend?"

Jody chuckled softly, "Yes, I guess..."

"You should tell me the full story, come on then, you and I are both women."

She sighed slowly, "Well, okay, but you can't tell anyone; this is between you and me…"

Seppuku smirked and sat back in his seat comfortably, "Start from the beginning, when you two first met…"

Chiya and Earl had later returned to the base. Chiya was eating lunch in the lobby, Earl had taken a shower, and Seppuku was still in his office. The three were simply going to lay low until it was time to leave for Big Blue. The following day Earl and Chiya would be going out to finally purchase a new regular vehicle. As for Chiya, all she seemed to care about was getting through these next days so she could finally arrive on Big Blue.

Chiya plugged a carrot into her mouth while staring aimlessly towards the door to the hallway. Lunch was the meal of the day that was almost always spent away from each other. Earl would even skip lunch at times, unlike Chiya, who loved to eat whenever she could.

The confidence Chiya had in the annual Grand Prix was very strong. Unlike her first year, she was coming into the Grand Prix full of morale and excitement; she didn't seem to fear the fact that she could be killed on the track in mere days. She knew that if Seppuku and Jody could become friends again, she could successfully persuade everyone to attack Blood Falcon. Regardless of what Jody or anyone else in the universe thought, Blood Falcon would always be the true villain—not Seppuku.

Earl momentarily came through the door into the lobby, Chiya turned towards him and waved. He approached her without speaking and pulled up a chair beside her.

"Chiya, with Seppuku unable to hear us right now; what do you actually think about the Big Blue scenario?"

She picked up another small carrot and raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Should we just stay aboard our ship with Seppuku?"

"No!"

Earl widened his eyes after hearing her quick and loud response, "This is Seppuku we're talking about, don't you think he may leave the ship sometime after the first week?"

Chiya glared at her bowl of carrots, "He shouldn't leave, that ship is arguably better than this base!"

"If he does, he can find his own way home when we leave!"

Earl smirked at the humorous answer, "Chiya…"

"I want to enjoy Big Blue! I'm not going to let him ruin this for us!"

"Alright, alright; we can rent a place. I'm just saying that-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying."

The room went silent; Chiya was clearly upset that Earl suggested sacrificing their vacation so that they could babysit Seppuku in the ship. Earl was merely thinking about their safety, as harboring Seppuku was putting them on the line as well. Chiya angrily chomped on her carrot with lowered eyebrows. Earl stood back up and sighed.

"Okay, let's just ask him what we need to do for him to keep him in that ship."

Chiya nodded and rolled her eyes, she followed him to the hallway, "Whatever he may want, it's probably out of our price range…"

The two continued down the hallway towards Seppuku's office. Seppuku hadn't come out of his office for anything all day, which was starting to look suspicious. The simple plan was to ask Seppuku what he might want in the ship that would persuade him to stay locked inside, as both knew that he would try to leave at some point.

Earl quickly opened the office door and entered with Chiya. The two both grunted loudly at what they were seeing, Chiya instantly felt a shock go down her spine.

"Bloody Hell, I hate when men do that…" Seppuku answered on the phone.

"I know, men can be so stupid…"

He looked up and grunted at the sight of his two companions; both appeared petrified to see that Seppuku was on the phone with Jody. He hummed and nodded slowly.

"Well, Jody, thank you for talking to me for so long. I feel so much more confident about my relationship with Earl."

Earl lowered his eyebrows with very wide eyes, Jody chuckled, "It was my pleasure, Chiya; I hope Earl can make you feel like the princess you truly are."

Seppuku smirked and chuckled, "I'll be sure to buy some of those _toys_…"

"Alright, and don't worry, Seppuku may have outsmarted me once, but I'm determined to bring him down this time…" she chuckled softly, "I don't mean to boast, but I think my detective skills are a bit superior to his…"

Seppuku chuckled, "Right, right, good luck with that!"

He slammed the phone down and burst out laughing. Chiya and Earl both growled loudly.

"What the Hell!" shouted Chiya.

Seppuku swished his hand at her, "Oh, relax. Impersonating you isn't that hard…"

Earl stomped his foot down, "Why were you talking with Jody!?"

"She called me- er—rr…" he pointed at Chiya, "I guess technically she called _you_."

"Why didn't you hang up!?" Chiya spat out loudly.

"How else was I supposed to humiliate her?"

Chiya flailed her arms in the air hopelessly, "You don't!"

Seppuku chuckled and shook negatively, "Oh yeah, because hanging up on her would be just as fun…" he said sarcastically.

Earl shook his fist angrily, "Seppuku, you can't do stuff like that!"

"Relax, I knew that I was doing…"

Chiya glared at him, but finally gave up and sighed. She leaned against his desk while holding her forehead in frustration. Seppuku smirked at the two and tilted his head.

"How has Chiya's driving improved over the months?"

Earl smiled, "Pretty good, I'd say that she's ready for the Grand Prix. She doesn't have many racers to fight, so it should be a plain out simple race for the finish this time."

"I just need to deal with Blood Falcon and Princia."

Seppuku raised an eyebrow, "Princia Ramode? The Sand Witch?"

Earl returned a somewhat irritated look, but to his surprise, Chiya was giggling at the joke.

"Sand Witch…" she repeated softly.

"Don't wanna' let her win, you'd be letting down your people."

Chiya closed her eyes again and sighed, "I don't know what to do though…" she groaned and wiped her forehead, "I've agreed to secretly work with Goroh and Guster, I'm already allied with Captain Falcon, I'm secretly allied with you, and Jody's probably going to ask me to join them on the track and help take you down…" she widened her eyes and began to push against her skull, "This is so frustrating!"

Seppuku chuckled, "You've become much more of an F-Zero politician, I see…" he clapped his hands and shrugged, "Like I said, as far as anyone else is concerned; we're enemies. I'll act hostile towards you on the track, but keep out of the Federation's clutch."

"So stay allied with Goroh and Guster?"

"Why the Hell are you helping those two fools?"

"Extra protection."

Seppuku nodded slowly, "You don't need them, I'd drop that alliance before things turn ugly."

Chiya widened her eyes, "So you're proposing that I merely align myself with Captain Falcon!?"

"He should be more than enough help to you…" he crossed his arms with a look of great disgust, "That is, when he's not helping himself like the greedy popularity pig he is…"

"Captain Falcon is cool, Seppuku, you just don't know him…"

Earl smirked at her, then back at Seppuku, "He is pretty cool, I don't know what your beef with him is."

Seppuku took a few moments before responding to them, he hummed while staring at Chiya intensely. She glanced away from him as he looked deep into her soul. Seppuku momentarily cracked his knuckles.

"He and I…" Chiya raised an eyebrow at him, Seppuku remained absolutely still, "He and I don't see eye-to-eye on many things. You may have noticed by now that we're very similar."

Chiya lowered her eyelids and puckered her lips, "Well, duh, but Captain Falcon's a bit hotter than you."

Chiya and Earl gasped loudly as Seppuku then stood up with a massive handgun in his hand. He quirked his mouth at Chiya and shook negatively, he put the gun away and chuckled.

"Yes, well, he's hot, I'm sexy. There's a crucial difference…"

Jody kicked open the door to the Federation HQ garage. She had a grim look on her face with a laser striker strapped to her back. Ever since she obtained one of these experimental weapons, she went everywhere with it—much like Seppuku did with his old rifle. She walked into the garage with her fists clenched; she could hear the sound of machine tools being used.

She turned around the corner and entered the main section of the garage; she was pleased to see that the title _White Bat_ had been successfully transformed back into _White Cat_. Tanaka's machine, the _Wonder Wasp_, rested beside her machine. Near the garage door stood Dr. Stewart, he was adjusting his new machine.

Jody approached Stewart with an impressed look of awe. His original machine, the _Golden Fox_, had been destroyed after being sent off the edge of Aeropolis—a metropolis planet with a very steep gelatin-like surface. The _Golden Fox _had eventually been devoured by the gelatin surface and now rests far underneath the surface, where it will eventually be destroyed after reaching the core of the planet.

Jody rubbed her hand across the large golden machine with a smile.

"You and Clash did a magnificent job with this machine…"

Stewart grinned and nodded, "I lost my father's machine, but I'm still determined to carry on his legacy; even if it means I have to drive a machine that a criminal once used."

His new machine was very large and bulky, but it technically wasn't a new machine to the F-Zero circuit. This was the _Wild Boar_, the machine of Michael Chain. Two years ago, as the gang war came to an end, Chain had been captured and imprisoned by the Federation; his machine was one of his many possessions that were confiscated. Michael Chain had escaped from prison and fled to Mysteria, but he was unable to reacquire his machine. Now that he has turned a new leaf for the better on Mysteria and wishes to live life as a Good Samaritan, he completely abandoned his F-Zero career.

The _Wild Boar_ had been repainted from orange to gold, now had black and red striped going around it, and possesses better machine parts. This is now known as the _Golden Boar_.

"I never imagined that I'd be piloting a machine as large and heavy as this, I don't expect to place well this year."

Jody shrugged, "Try your best, but such a machine will more than likely help against Seppuku."

"What about Blood Falcon?"

Jody swished her hand at him, "Yeah, if you have time for him, go for it…"

Stewart set down his tool and sighed, "I can't believe how many F-Zero racers are disappearing…"

Jody grinned, "Chain, Skull, Blaskovitz, Dark Rose, Black Shadow…" she closed her eyes while chuckling, "All good losses…"

Stewart glanced away from her and dipped his head, "…all because of the Lieutenant…"

"What was that?"

Stewart turned and looked her in the eyes, "I said, all because of the Lieutenant."

"No, not all," she held her finger up, "We captured Chain, Blaskovitz simply got ejected, and Black Shadow left for unrelated reasons." She held up two fingers, "All-in-all, Seppuku's track record is two-out-of-five."

"Going up against Seppuku might be a bad idea, Jody; you very well could be getting us in a deeper mess…"

Jody pointed at him with a strict finger, "God is my leader, I am his instrument…" she narrowed her eyes, "I answer only to God, and believe me when I say this…" she clenched her fists, "No God would want someone so powerful on this planet. Seppuku is clearly the work of Satan…"

"-and Captain Falcon is an archangel?"

Jody nodded, "Bingo-" she stopped herself and lowered her eyebrows, "Well, now all of a sudden he announces that he'll be defending the Lieutenant on the track…" she rubbed her chin and thought about this for a few moments.

"Captain Falcon is going to protect him?"

Jody nodded, "Yes, so be prepared. Captain Falcon very well may be under his dark influence right now, and we can't let him stop us in our mission…"

"What are you, nuts!?"

"I have high hopes that Falcon will see the light and join us, but protecting someone like Seppuku is very immature."

"Jody, if you keep this up, people are going to truly start believing that you intend on turning this crime fighting force into some totalitarian empire."

"We are far from that point, Stewart. I don't have full executive powers over the Federation. Besides, I'm not bad, I'm thinking about the people of the universe."

"That may be so, but-"

"Just leave this to me, believe in my judgment."

Stewart stared at her for several seconds; he had no further argument to make. He stood with his personal belief, just as Jody did with hers. He turned towards his machine and resumed work for the upcoming race.

Chiya sat alone at the dining table with a frown on her face, she had practically finished dinner, but Seppuku and Earl had yet to arrive. She felt abandoned, believing that Earl of all people would have shown up. She had no idea what the two were doing, but she was becoming very sad knowing that their food would soon be cold. She sighed loudly and dipped her head down.

At that moment, Earl had charged into the lobby with a frantic expression. Chiya beamed and brought her hands together.

"I am so sorry!"

Chiya nodded, "It's fine, your food should still be warm."

He sat down and immediately dug into his food, specifically the meat. Chiya watched him eat with the same cute smile, but her smile momentarily quirked back.

"Where were you?"

Earl swallowed his food and looked up at her, "Seppuku and I were just looking over our expenses…" she widened her eyes and dropped her fork down nervously, Earl sighed and shook negatively, "We're officially in a deficit twice as bad as the previous years…"

Chiya nearly choked on her food in response, her eyes widened greatly, "What!?"

"Our rate of income has declined even further."

"B- but we were doing fine!"

"We need to pay taxes, bills, and everyday items."

"Yeah, but-"

"It's becoming harder and harder to keep up with these expenses. I usually only get paid by Captain Falcon for fixing his machine after a race, but mind you, Bart works alongside me, so I'm not receiving as much as I could be."

Chiya slammed her fists down, "Then put me into Captain Falcon's organization! I'll do anything for him!" she exhaled with a dreamy look on her face, "…I'd do anything for _him_…"

"Can't do that, the identity of Falcon must remain-"

"Yeah, yeah…"

Earl sighed, "Seppuku rejoining certainly isn't helping. He alone subtracts a massive portion from our overall income."

"In what way?"

"Well, he needs money for alcohol, more hot water usage, and of course…" Earl cringed, "His online _subscriptions_…"

Chiya glared at Earl and shook her fists, "Well, we're certainly going to stop paying him then!"

"Is that really a good idea?"

Chiya nodded quickly, "You have up beer. It was hard, but in the end it saved us a lot of money!"

"But, Chiya, beer is magnificent…"

Earl and Chiya both grunted, Seppuku was now somehow standing behind Chiya. Earl blinked a few times with a very confused expression; he looked at the door to the hallway in utter confusion. It was as if he had entered the lobby without using the door.

"Um, hi, Seppuku!" Chiya greeted nervously.

Seppuku chuckled maniacally, "You must have hit your head pretty hard, to think that I would ever consider giving up the buzz…"

Chiya sighed, "Actually, no; I never thought for a moment that I would successfully persuade you…"

"You two are idiots." Both simply glared at him in response, Seppuku's grin now disappeared, "Punishing me for your terrible financial tackling skills isn't going to solve a thing. What you two need to do, is finally grow up."

Earl smirked, "Grow up? I'm almost thirty."

Chiya smiled excitedly, "-and I'm almost twenty-five!"

"Yeah, you're a big girl now…" Chiya gave Seppuku a hostile look in response, "My point is, you two are this old, and are still trying to avoid the inevitable…" he pointed back and forth at the two, "You two need jobs."

Chiya gasped and shook negatively, "I'm an F-Zero racer!"

"I work for Captain Falcon."

"F-Zero doesn't pay unless you win, and from what I hear, that greedy bastard Falcon won't fork over much of his immense treasury."

Chiya shook negatively, "Captain Falcon shares his wealth with people who need it!"

Seppuku shook negatively while chuckling, "Damn socialists…"

Earl sighed loudly, "I understand that getting a simple job would fix this, but we tried that before; Chiya only ended up getting her heart crushed."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and pointed at Seppuku hostilely, "Why don't you get a job!?"

He sighed and face palmed, "Flower, you're joking, right?"

"No! You should get a job; you hardly do a bloody thing around here!"

Seppuku shook negatively and turned towards Earl, "Hey, Bendek, what do you think are the chances of me getting a job in the Upper City?"

Earl shrugged, "Probably ten percent."

Chiya raised an eyebrow, but she soon realized why Seppuku couldn't do this. She face palmed and shook negatively, "Wow, that was stupid of me to propose…"

"Face it, you're gonna' need to find a job at some point. Unless you win the Grand Prix, that is. Keep this up and you'll end up taking loans you can't repay, then you file for bankruptcy, and finally-"

"…I turn out like my mother…"

Seppuku began to clap for her, "Good work! You've figured it out!"

Chiya sighed very loudly and turned towards Earl, "Can you help me make a resume?"

Seppuku grasped her shoulders and grinned, "You don't need that. You're a celebrity, neither one of you should have any problems landing a job somewhere off the bat."

Earl hummed and nodded, "He's right. I have a certificate in welding and mechanical operations; I can probably land some _actual_ part-time job."

Chiya frowned and grasped her forehead, "…I don't have a certificate…"

"You have a high school diploma, right?"

She shook negatively, "That's probably on Mysteria. I don't think an employer would be able to access my Mysterian records…"

Seppuku finally sat next to Chiya and nodded, "Bendek will obviously get the high paying job, Chiya needs to look for something that anyone could do."

Chiya narrowed her eyes, "I'm not being a custodian…"

The three thought about this for a few moments, wondering how they could go about getting Chiya a job. They thought about this for several moments, Earl was thinking of a job that Chiya could excel in before himself. Chiya closed her eyes and lowered her eyebrows as she thought very hard on this. Alas, nothing was popping up. She sighed and dipped her head down shamefully.

It was at that moment of sorrow for her that the answer confronted her—a fluffy answer. She widened her eyes and gasped as Mauser rubbed alongside her leg. She slammed her hands down and looked up at Earl.

"Earl! Do we still have those emergency funds we were saving from the Dark Million torture I endured?"

Earl nodded, "Yes?"

Seppuku smirked, "You still haven't taken all of that out?"

Chiya leaned in towards Earl and beamed, "I know what we can do, it'll be expensive and very hard, but I know it'll work, I just know it!"

Earl and Seppuku both had overly intrigued looks, Chiya rubbed her hands together excitedly as she looked down at Mauser.

Chiya minutes later stood by the whiteboard in Seppuku's office, she had drawn out a section of the Lower City she used to live at before meeting Seppuku. In the middle of a street was a medium sized complex labeled _Rough Odds_. Seppuku was already somewhat excited that her idea was relevant to a bar that had been destroyed.

She pointed her black marker at the Rough Odds block with an immense smile, "It would take a lot of money, but as we all know, Rough Odds was destroyed and abandoned two years ago after Michael Chain attacked…"

Seppuku chuckled, "Good times…"

She turned towards the board and rubbed her chin, "It's a long shot, but my celebrity status just very well may make this work…"

Seppuku appeared more excited than Earl, both had a general idea of what she was proposing. Earl wasn't very onboard with the idea of rebuilding the bar, but Seppuku was. Of course, Earl understood that neither of the three had a bartender license, so running a bar would also be illegal.

Chiya smiled and circled the bar, "If we can take out most of those emergency funds, we can restore Rough Odds. We'll rename it and everything, it will be known as _Great Odds_!"

Seppuku snapped his fingers, "Love it!"

"Because let's be honest, Rough Odds is kind of a morale shattering name, Good Odds is more hopeful sounding!"

"Good, good!" Seppuku responded enthusiastically.

"Yep! We'll reconstruct the place to look nice, paint the walls, create new floors, everything!"

Earl nodded slightly, "Hm—m…"

"How about music? Install a better music player than what it used to have?"

"Yeah!"

Seppuku smirked, "I'm in full support of this idea, Chiya, a great idea!"

Chiya bounced up excitedly, "Yes! I'm so happy to hear that!" she moved the marker up to the corner of the building, "This will be where the play area is, and over here is where the cages will be for the timeout sections."

Seppuku's smile momentarily faded, "Eh?"

"Yeah! We'll let the animals play around in this area, but if any of them get violent, we put them in their cages for a bit."

Earl raised an eyebrow, Seppuku gritted his teeth, "W- wait, why are animals going to be in a bar?"

Chiya dropped her arms with a confused expression, "Bar? What bar?"

"Good Odds..?"

Chiya scratched her eyebrow in confusion, "We're not making a bar…"

Earl and Seppuku both grunted, Seppuku stomped his foot down, "What!? Then what the Hell are we making!?"

"An animal shelter!" she said excitedly.

Just like that, the tide had turned; Earl was now beaming, while Seppuku had a look of discontent. Earl chuckled loudly and swung his fist in the air.

"Yeah! Animal shelters don't usually do too good. But people will come if it means they get to meet a celebrity like you!"

Chiya clapped her hands together, "Exactly!"

"This is stupid."

"You're stupid!"

"Chiya, Chiya…" Earl said calmly.

She exhaled and nodded, "Right, right, I'm sorry…"

Seppuku crossed his arms, "This isn't going to work, it'll just put us deeper down the hole, animal shelters are always non-profit!"

Chiya narrowed her eyes at him, "That's not true, _most_ of it goes towards the animals. We keep about thirty percent of the income."

"Oh, and where do you obtain this profit?"

She shrugged, "Neutering, checkups, souvenirs, all that…"

Earl nodded, "She's right, an ordinary pet shelter wouldn't make much, but if Chiya's the head of it, people will want to come merely to meet her."

"But we could make so much more from a bar!"

"Neither of us have bartending licenses. Besides, this is helping, a bar only ruins lives."

Earl lowered his eyelids, "Pretty sure my parents met at a bar…"

Seppuku sighed loudly and sat in his desk, he had immediately lost all interest in Chiya's plan, "I'm going to look for actual jobs that you two can do. We'll really need a well paying job after you put us in debt because of this stupid idea…"

Chiya grabbed Earl's hand and glared at Seppuku, "You'll see! It'll be tough at first, but in the end, we'll have given all the unfortunate animals of the universe-"

"Yeah, yeah, get going, it's late."

Chiya growled softly, "I don't wanna' go to bed yet…"

Seppuku simply swished his hand at her, her glare became much stronger, but she exhaled none-the-less. She certainly wasn't surprised that Seppuku was opposed to starting an animal shelter with her. Ultimately, this would be a Chiya-Earl project.

She tightly gripped Earl's hand and nodded at Seppuku, "Come on, Earl; let's go collaborate about this…"

Earl grinned and nodded, "Sounds good."

The two left the office together with nothing more to say to Seppuku. The organization was on a quick decline, if a solution wasn't found eventually, they would need to take out loans, and loans would lead to bankruptcy. The idea of turning a destroyed Lower City bar into an animal shelter seemed farfetched; but Chiya instantly had a new dream along with her F-Zero career…

…to make an animal shelter that not even the wealthy Upper City could host…

To be continued…


	17. Lap 16

==Lap 16=

The Lower City was many things; wrecked, poor, abandoned, frightening, dangerous, depressing, and gloomy. Only the misfortunates of Mute City lived here, mostly bums. An even darker cloud shrouded the Lower City two years ago when the citizens had to live in fear of the gangs. But now was a new dawn, with a chance of sunshine. Chiya and Earl wanted to bring a small bit of happiness to the Lower City by turning the abandoned Rough Odds establishment into a pet shelter. A pet shelter wouldn't help these people out of their poor lives; however, this would indeed bring hope to the Lower City. If the two succeeded and opened up a pet shelter that couldn't be competed with, the Lower City would finally have something worth bragging about.

Chiya stepped over a few bricks with puckered lips, Earl climbed through the large hole that had been blasted into the Rough Odds bar years ago. He was overly surprised to see this, as he had never gotten so close to the building. The last time he had ever come here was the day he met Chiya.

Chiya came to a stop in the middle of the bar and exhaled joyfully, "Well, this is it!"

Earl quirked his mouth and momentarily wrapped his arm around her as they gazed at the completely wrecked establishment, "Well, it's a good idea. Just gotta' fix this place up…"

Chiya nodded optimistically, "How long will it take to do that?"

Earl shrugged, "Depends, are we going to redesign this place?"

Chiya spread her arms throughout the air, "I want this entire establishment wiped!" Earl widened his eyes briefly, "I don't want this place to resemble a bar at the slightest, the counters, stools, beer glasses, gambling stations-all gone."

Earl glanced over at the gambling tables and hummed, "Maybe we could bring the gambling tables home, could put one in the base and on the ship."

"Great thinking!"

Earl smiled, "You sure are excited about this."

She spun around with a great smile, her hair whipped across her face, "Yes, yes I am!" she clapped her hands together with quivering happy eyes, "Soon we'll be helping all of the kitties in the world, _while_ making money!"

"A dream?"

She puckered her lips, "I would prefer that all cats live luxurious lives-like Mauser does."

Earl approached the bar counter and hummed with a grin, he sat down on a specific stool and exhaled; Chiya saw what he was doing, so she sat in the stool on the edge of the counter. The two turned their heads with smiles, Chiya ran her finger along the dusty counter slowly.

"It's interesting, that this junkyard is where we first met…" said Earl.

Chiya turned around and quirked her mouth, "Yeah, but you know, I actually kinda' like it this way…" Earl raised an eyebrow, "I mean, it sucks that people died, and that the Lower City is without a bar. But just looking at all of this destruction…" The two looked were looking around the debris covered bar in amazement, Chiya had a faint smile on her face, "This was the only source of fun a bum like me could have found, this place had TV, laughter, and friendly folks…"

Earl smiled at her and nodded, "Was kind of a smelly place, but that wasn't unusual, it _was_, as you said, a place for bums."

She exhaled while staring at the exact table she had been sitting at the moment the Bloody Chain attack had commenced, "But even now, this abandoned building has memories. The aftermath of this destruction takes me back to the early days of the organization, a time when you and I were but mere associates…"

Earl rubbed his chin and chuckled, "If you recall, I was originally trying to hit on you…" he closed his eyes with a large grin, "I wonder how much further our relationship would be now, had you pursued the relationship."

"You didn't seem very interested."

He shrugged, "Honestly, I wasn't. I was just trying to score your lips that day we met; but I ended up with much more in the end…" he quirked his mouth and shook negatively, "However, a part of me believes that perhaps, I did truly see something in you I liked…" he opened his eyes and exhaled loudly, "You were never like any of the women I dated before. You were down on your luck, poor, homeless, in need of help…"

Chiya frowned at him and nodded, Earl exhaled and crossed his arms with a smirk, "Honestly, part of me believes that had I merely kissed you upon meeting you, I would have seen something much more about you. I think we would have met again, unlike my past girlfriends. I would have wanted to help you get back on your feet, even if I myself was not very wealthy…"

"That's very kindhearted of you, Earl."

"I don't know, you probably wouldn't have joined me and Seppuku in these crazy missions. But would I have eventually fallen in love with you..?" he shrugged and glanced off into the distance, "I'd say, yeah, probably."

Chiya sighed, "Before I met you, I assumed all men just wanted sex—and nothing else," she clenched her fists, "Those two men who stalked me prior to that day were an easy example of why I couldn't stand men…"

Earl nodded, "Of all the bums here, you probably had the most difficult life…" he lowered his eyelids, "Most of the bums here today were born in this section of the city. Not many of the people you see on the streets today have ever experienced any of the luxuries that others get; they were born creditless, and very well may die that way too."

"But I wasn't born that way, how does that make my life more difficult?"

Earl stood up and began to prance around her, "Because, Chiya, despite the fact that your family was poor, you still received a home, family, clothing, food, schooling, and many other opportunities. These people did not receive any of that…" he crossed his fingers together and held Chiya's shoulders, "To take someone who was raised with all of this good treatment, then throw her down onto the streets of the Lower City with none of that; you must have been going nuts."

Chiya sighed and closed her eyes, "I sure did crave for a hamburger all of those years…"

"These people born as bums grew up with none of this, so they are used to eating scraps and picking up change. You, however, were not accustomed to this. Therefore, you suffered more than anyone here."

Chiya closed her eyes and sighed, she slightly opened her eyes, revealing slight bits of water built up in her eyes, "Earl, why can't these people be helped?" Earl frowned at her, "Why is it so hard to just treat these people equally and bring them _some_ fortune to their lives?"

Earl sighed again and sat back down, "Because, we are human…" she raised an eyebrow at him, "For centuries, people have tried to adopt societies of equality—like Mysteria. But try as they may, these societies will never prevail without the use of military force…"

Chiya shook negatively, "But, anyone who lives in the Upper City must be loaded with money. Why can't all of these richer people bundle together and donate a little bit of money towards funding the Lower City?" she gritted her teeth angrily, "Why is that so hard? Just a little bit of money from everyone, and we can probably get everybody off the streets!"

Earl smirked and shook negatively, "As I said, because we're human. Ant colonies, cats, beavers, dolphins; they can pull such a society off; but humanity..?" he chuckled and shook negatively, "Humanity is built off of greed. _Everyone_ wants to be rich, that's the problem. This is why we will never have an equal society; because wealth brainwashes people."

Chiya sighed and nodded, she then smiled, "Well, if we try hard enough with this pet shelter, maybe we bring a bit more hope to the Lower City."

Earl nodded, "This very well could be the first step towards brining business back to the Lower City. As soon as people finally come to the realization that the gang war is over and that several unemployed workers are down here—we may see businesses down here."

"Well, enough of the sad talk, we need to plan out how we're going to go about reconstructing this place."

Earl nodded with a grin, "We'll do it while on Big Blue, how about-"

"Oh my God!" Earl widened his eyes, "That's right! We're going to Big Blue tomorrow!"

"Yes, we are."

She clenched her fists and chuckled, "That'll be a magical place for thinking, we'll have this pet shelter done in no time!"

Earl held her hand as they walked towards the exit, "You, me, and Seppuku will have this place fixed up in no time at all."

Chiya stopped as soon as they reached the exit; she lowered her eyebrows, "You mean, we're not hiring someone to do that part for us?"

"Chiya, we need to save money, not burn it," Chiya had suddenly become nervous, now fearing that they may very well invest in property that they can't fix, "Don't worry, remember when we fixed up the base two years ago after the Red Star attack?"

"Best summer ever…"

"It's not so different; arguably, this may be easier. All we need to do is clean up the debris, fix the walls, consider adding windows, move everything we don't need out of here, and lastly, put in the pieces that will make this a pet shelter."

"Where do we get the medicine and stuff from?"

"We'll probably have to acquire a license that allows us to order these things."

Chiya held up the _Purring Kitten'_s key and signaled for the cockpit to open, she nodded and put her hand on the body of the machine, "Well, I guess it's finally time to go buy a new vehicle for you."

"For _us_."

She nodded, "Let's see if that coupon Goroh gave us is actually worth anything…"

Seppuku was later watching television with a bored look, he didn't find that staying on Chiya's ship for a week would be very fun; but he was still willing to leave early none-the-less. The show he was watching featured a man with a chainsaw.

"Now, what you're gonna' want to do, is gently press the running blade against the log," the man pushed the spinning blade against the log gently, "As you can see, I am now buzzing the wood—this is also why you must wear goggles, as you may get sawdust in your eyes."

Seppuku groaned loudly, "Well, I'm learning one thing from this…" he quirked his mouth and crossed his arms, "I've learned that chainsaws can also be used to cut wood."

Earl opened the door to the office alongside Chiya, he was wearing a black muscle shirt. Seppuku turned his head towards the two, after spotting Earl's muscle shirt, he grunted.

"Oh God, what is _this_..?"

Earl looked down at his shirt and lowered his eyebrows, "What?"

"Why are you wearing that?"

Chiya wrapped herself around his arm and puckered her lips, "I think he looks absolutely jaw-dropping."

Seppuku nodded in agreement, "Jaw-dropping is right…"

Earl swished his hand at Seppuku, "Whatever, man. We're going to head off and buy a new vehicle, but we're going to jog and walk."

Seppuku chuckled, "Flower? Exercise?"

"Hey! I so do exercise!"

"No, you don't."

"I'll have you know, racing is considered a sport—therefore I'm an athlete."

Seppuku groaned, "Whoever made up that rule should've been shot…"

Earl pointed at Seppuku, "We might head to the supermarket while we're up there; anything you need?"

"Fetch me some HE propelled rockets—I want to practice out in Red Canyon with them once we defeat Jody and I'm free to pursue my personal interests."

Chiya and Earl exchanged glances, Chiya smirked at Seppuku after turning her head, "I- I don't think any store, anywhere, is going to sell rockets for a launcher."

"At least check," he ordered calmly.

She shook negatively, "No, that's a waste of time."

"Check!"

Earl shook negatively, "That's a military grade weapon, they're not-"

"Check if they have some, or I'll read diary entry number two-sixty aloud!"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "Wait, what-"

Chiya grabbed his mouth with quivering eyes, "Okay! I'll be sure to check for those rockets!"

Jody slammed her hands down on a desk alongside Rick Wheeler and Mr. EAD, "What do you got for me?"

Rick slapped a mobile device down in front of her displaying an image, "Jack took this photo late at night."

Jody squinted at the photo and gritted her teeth; there was a slight shine visible in the center. All she was able to clearly see was that the photo was of a Lower City street late at night.

"Wh- what am I looking at, exactly?"

Rick tapped the screen a few times, the image of the slight glow expanded, "Look, it's clearly an aluminum can of beer."

Jody lowered her eyelids, "Is this some funny way of telling me that I need to go out and buy more beer?"

Rick ignored the question and moved the screen around a bit, Jody raised an eyebrow at this and squinted again, "Wait, who's holding the beer?"

The image was too dark to make out an accurate figure, but it was clear to her that the figure holding the beer was in very dark clothing. Jody widened her eyes and grunted as she gazed at the blurry black clothed fingers around the beer.

"Jack says the person was clearly drunk and had a wobbly stance."

"Was this person wearing a fedora?"

Rick snapped his fingers, "Not sure, Jack wasn't able to make out the image very well from his point of view."

EAD raised his finger up, "Many of the unfortunate Lower City citizens dress darkly. This could be anyone."

Jody nodded, "True, but I don't see any legs on the person, leading me to believe that it's either a woman in a skirt, or a man in a trench coat."

"Well, let's be honest. No woman would intentionally dress nice and walk around the Lower City; that's practically a welcoming sign for rapists down there."

She nodded, "But, wait…" she narrowed her eyes at the can and shook negatively, "Where in the Lower City could you acquire that brand of beer?"

The can was red and gold, not the usual kind of alcohol the Federation had in storage. She glanced up at Rick and lowered her eyebrows.

"What brand of beer is that?"

"It's made in Korea, but sold in Mute City."

Jody hummed and rubbed her chin, "The _Lower_ City?"

"Upper."

Jody nodded slightly with a look of suspicion; she continued to rub on her chin as she studied the image. She was trying very hard to find evidence that this was Lieutenant Seppuku.

"Whoever it is, has access to the Upper City. But Seppuku wouldn't go to the Upper City for beer, would he?"

"He'd be pretty foolish to do that."

Jody grinded her teeth gently, "That's not his usual brand, for the many years I've known him, he and I share a love for the same brand of beer. He never drinks any other brand."

EAD twizzled his moustache a few times and glanced over at the two, "Why not request purchasing information from all of the stores that sell this brand?" Jody raised her eyebrows at the proposal, "Surely one of these storeowners will reveal to us whether someone from the Lower City purchased this brand."

Jody snapped her fingers, "Great idea, if Seppuku indeed came up and bought this brand, we'll know…" she grasped her forehead and sighed loudly, "The sooner we do this, the sooner we can take the bastard down…" she closed her eyes and exhaled, "Who woulda' thought that Seppuku would betray his favorite beer, just like his true companions…"

Seppuku crushed a red and gold can of beer and tossed it in the recycling bin. He groaned loudly and grasped both sides of his head. He momentarily got a forced gleeful look on his face while wiggling his fingers around.

"_Oh, Seppuku! It's cheaper, Seppuku! It's healthier, Seppuku! You're a bloody wanker and I'm not, Seppuku!_" he mimicked loudly to himself.

He stuck his tongue out and crossed his arms angrily, "It's like those two become more annoying every day that goes by…" he looked down at a photo of Chiya that was on his desk and lowered his eyebrows, "Bendek, you were a lot more cool back when you drank. Then the succubus came along…"

Seppuku didn't dislike his two companions, but he was often irritated by their love for each other. To him, it was one thing if the two were simply dating; but he was viewing their relationship differently. It didn't seem that neither Earl nor Chiya desired any friends, as if love was all they needed in life suddenly. Two years ago, Chiya and Earl were co-workers and not much else; there was even a period on Aeropolis where the two greatly disliked each other. Now they were in love, and their previous mission to take on Dark Million was becoming much more difficult as a result.

He tugged on his scarf a few times while tapping his fingers on his desk. His boredom was almost at the point where he would've tagged along with the two to the vehicle dealership, but alas, he was to stay isolated in the base until Jody called off the hunt. Naturally though, Seppuku had no intentions of staying inside of the base at all times; come nighttime, he would leave and roam the streets of the Lower City in search of crime. Contrary to popular belief, Seppuku was a vigilante who sought to help the unfortunates of the Lower City.

He crossed his fingers and sighed loudly with his head back against his chair, "This is not what I had in mind when I escaped…"

Chiya was panting loudly as the two had reached the top of the slope leading to the Upper City, Bart's Café was in front of them, but they had no plans of going here. Chiya came to a full stop and grasped her knees while panting. Earl stopped as well and knelt down beside her.

"You feel alright?"

She continued to pant towards the ground loudly, "I- I need water…"

Earl turned his head towards the café, "How about coffee?"

"I need water!"

"I think there's a public fountain around the next block."

She looked up at him with an exhausted look, "No way, I don't wanna' get those germs-" she stopped herself and sighed, "Oh, who am I kidding..?"

Earl grabbed her hand and put his hand on her forehead, "Are you sure you're okay? You look really worn down…"

"I'm okay, I'm okay…"

She took a few steps forward, but gradually began to slow down as she moved. It only took a few more seconds before she knelt back down. Earl grunted at her and knelt down beside her again; she had gotten down on her rear this time and proceeded to sit on the sidewalk.

"Okay, I just, I just…" she tugged on the collar of her shirt and covered her mouth with it, "I just need to rest for a moment…" she said into her shirt.

Earl nodded, "Alright, I'll go see if Bart can-"

"No, I can make it to the fountain, in a few…" she exhaled loudly, "…a few moments…"

"I'm scared that you're dehydrated."

"I don't wanna' talk to Bart, he'll just pull us into a series of conversations…"

Earl smirked and momentarily chuckled, "Yeah, he loves to run his mouth."

Chiya's panting was becoming softer, but she still had an overly exhausted look on her face. As a teenager, Chiya was fairly obese. She had vomited herself to an acceptable weight so she could become a varsity soccer player for her team. After she left Mysteria, she had failed to gain weight, as she was a bum for nearly seven years. Because of this, she had little experience with exercising, making her a much softer person.

Earl grasped her hand and helped her onto her feet, she wiped her forehead and exhaled loudly, "Can we be done with running?"

"Yes, we're done, you did great."

Earl proceeded to walk her towards the intersection, some people began to take notice of the F-Zero racer, but none appeared ready to jump at her and request autographs. Earl crossed the street with her while looking both ways; Chiya was looking down at the ground as they moved. After entering the next block, Earl looked up and beamed.

"There it is, I can see the fountain up ahead."

She exhaled in relief and nodded, "Thank God…"

The fountain was installed against the wall of a building; obtaining water had all of a sudden become the one thing Chiya wanted over all other things. The two walked down the sidewalk as people watched, some took photos of the two. Neither of the two regarded the publicity they were getting, this was becoming very normal in their lives. Chiya had yet to acquire a paparazzi stocking-and she was beyond thankful for this.

The two approached the fountain, Earl smiled and pointed at the device, "There you go."

Chiya had nothing to say, she instantly forced herself onto the fountain and began to swallow as much water as she could hold. Earl watched her drink the water, he momentarily smirked and lowered his eyebrows after observing her more closely. She seemed to drink much like a cat would; she was lapping the water constantly with her eyes closed. This was somewhat strange, but he found this very cute.

"Is that the Mysterian way to drink water?"

She opened her eyes and glanced over at him; she wiped her lips and raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"You're lapping up the water with your tongue, like a cat; is that a Mysteria thing?"

"It's how I was taught to use a fountain…"

Earl smiled and swished his hands around, "Keep going, keep going. I just thought it was kind of interesting…"

She stared at him for a few moments before returning to the fountain. She hadn't made a single attempt to correct the way she drank, as she continued to lap the water up with her tongue. Earl grasped his waist and scanned the area to make sure that no one would see her doing this. No one was on the same sidewalk as them, but people were staring at the two from across the street, as they were intrigued to see such a rising celebrity stand before them.

"If you like water, you're gonna' love Big Blue."

Chiya drank for a few more moments, she stood up straight and wiped her lips again, "Have you been there before?"

"Nope, brand new experience for me; for _us_."

She held her hand over her heart and smiled greatly, "I'm just so excited, I sure love Aeropolis, but this place sounds very beautiful and less dangerous."

"Are you proposing that we start out lives together on Big Blue?"

She puckered her lips and shrugged, "I have to determine which planet I like more. Aeropolis is so nice, but I can't stand the fear of Mother-Q dying and have the entire metropolis collapse."

Earl nodded, "I can tell you this much. Job opportunities you won't find too much of on Big Blue, but the scenery is to die for, apparently."

The two resumed walking down the sidewalk while talking about Big Blue. Their conversations were mostly about their future together, a future once again away from Seppuku. One thing that calmed Chiya down a bit was the fact that Earl was still discussing what they would do together as a family. This was reassuring to her, as this hinted that Earl at least planned on marrying her in time. One thing was clear to her; once they got married, living with Seppuku would permanently be out of the question. Neither of the two were prepared to let their children live with such a dark hearted person.

As for the animal shelter they now planned on starting; the two had agreed while walking to the dealership that they would sell the business once they were prepared to move-but only to someone who clearly loved animals.

Minutes later, Chiya had her nostrils pressed against the window of a vehicle on display. She was looking inside of the vehicle with an excited look, even the _Purring Kitten_ lacked many of the high-tech gadget that this vehicle contained.

"Hey, hey, hey. Please keep your face away from the window," a vehicle dealer lectured.

Chiya backed away from the vehicle with a smile, she pointed down at it a few times, "You should get this one."

Earl rubbed his chin and shook negatively, "That's far too fancy. I don't really wanna' spend that much money…"

The dealer got a sly grin on his face, "Oh, but this vehicle basically pays for itself!" Earl and Chiya turned towards the man as he slithered around the vehicle, "I guarantee you that this vehicle could easily last you half a century!"

Chiya gasped, "Wow! We'll probably have died by that time!"

Earl shook negatively, "I'm good."

The dealer rubbed his hand along the shiny metal of the vehicle, "Does this young piece of jewelry like trees?"

Chiya blushed, "I like trees…"

Earl narrowed his eyes, "Irrelevant to my-"

"This vehicle was special built to help keep our environment healthy; the exhaust has been configured to-"

"That vehicle over there seems to be more along the lines of what I'm looking for…"

The dealer grunted, but got a fake smile again, "Yes, of course! But let me tell you more about this model, first!"

Earl shook negatively, "I don't really-"

Chiya grabbed his arm and smiled, "Come on, Earl. Think about how many trees you've killed doing homework and stuff as a kid; now you can help them by driving this miracle machine!"

Earl shook negatively, "It's just that-"

"The music player comes equipped with an audio editing tool, that way, you can remix your favorite songs on the go!"

Chiya gasped and tightly squeezed Earl's arm, "Buy it!"

Earl grunted, "B- but, we don't need this!"

"You'd be crazy not to take up this offer!"

Chiya nodded in agreement, "You heard him, you're not crazy, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I just don't see a reason to spend more than I have to."

The dealer smirked and closed his eyes, "No, he's right, young lady. The vehicle over there is much cheaper…" Earl grinned and nodded approvingly at the man's honest words, Chiya frowned somewhat, "A lot of couples drive those heaps around the place. Just because the truly wild couples drive nice rides like this, shouldn't make you feel old."

Chiya gasped and turned towards Earl with a glare, Earl sighed loudly and lowered his eyelids. Chiya grinned at him as she easily recognized the look of defeat on his face. Earl pulled out his wallet and began sorting through his payment cards.

"…how much are we talking..?"

"I love this vehicle!" Chiya said excitedly.

The two were driving back to the Lower City twenty minutes later in Earl's new vehicle. This was certainly no F-Zero machine, but the interior was much more advanced than a machine. Earl had a somewhat disappointed look on his face, but he couldn't hold back a grin. Chiya was happy and he had a brand new vehicle. He smirked and wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel firmly.

"Man, I would have scored with a lot more girls if I had something as nice as this."

Chiya shrugged, "Probably…" she chuckled, "If you drove up to me with this and told me to get in, I probably would have."

"I have faith that this pet shelter will bring us out of the slump, or at least chop down the decline in income until we win the Grand Prix."

Chiya placed her hand over his and smiled, "This year I swear, we'll win."

Earl nodded, "Win or lose, I'll always be very proud of you in the end," he dipped his head down and smiled slightly, "-and I'll always be your biggest fan…"

"Biggest fan?"

"I'm your boyfriend; a fan can't get closer than that."

Chiya slowly smiled and lowered her eyebrows nervously, "Well, there's one other title besides _boyfriend_ that would prove your loyalty…"

"Oh? What's that?"

Chiya's eyes quivered nervously, she was trying to get the word_, husband_, out of her mouth, but she was choking, "Uh, um…" she closed her eyes and sank into her seat, "I don't know…"

Earl nodded, "I'm excited to see you race on Big Blue. Nothing makes me happier than to see you doing the thing you love."

Chiya turned her head slightly and smirked, "Wanna' wager?"

"Hm?"

She cracked her knuckles and chuckled, "A wager. How about this; if I win, you have to give me another back massage on Big Blue. If I don't place first, I'll give you some form of massage."

Earl slowly grinned at her and shook negatively, "Hell, I'm not taking that bet," Chiya lowered her eyebrows and grunted in confusion, "No way I'm taking that risk. Your machine is upgraded, you've touched up on your racing skills, less enemies, and your confidence is at an all-time high. I think the chances of you winning are way too high."

Chiya smiled at him for a few moments, she momentarily turned towards her window and crossed her arms, "Yeah, you're right. This Grand Prix is going right in my pocket…"

Earl winked at her as he made the turn towards the block Rough Odds was on, "But if it's a back massage you're after, I'll gladly accommodate that wish."

"Yea-ah!" she responded in a deep tone.

Finally, after thirty minutes of doing checkups on the base's appliances, the three were packing up for Big Blue. Chiya and Earl were beyond excited to begin their bright and sunny vacation on Big Blue; Seppuku was anxious to leave, but only because he felt that staying on Big Blue would give him slightly more freedom. While Big Blue is indeed a Federation controlled planet, it isn't very populated in many areas; therefore Seppuku could get fresh air without the fear of being tackled by Jody's squad. Neither Chiya nor Earl fully trusted that Seppuku would stay inside of the ship until the Grand Prix began, but they were determined to not let Seppuku ruin their vacation.

Chiya was slamming several of her possessions inside of a red bag. Sketchbooks, skin lotion, medication, makeup, candy, the _back massager_, clothing, and even her old trusty handgun. She lifted up her black bikini and puckered her lips.

"Oh, definitely taking this along!"

She shoved the bikini down under the clothing and continued to put other useful things inside. Earl slowly crept into her room as she packed with a small bag in his hand. Chiya could hear his footsteps approaching her slowly; she turned her head and shook her bag a few times. She grunted at the sight of his very small bag.

"What are you bringing along?"

He looked down into his bag and quirked his mouth, "Clothes, a wrench, deodorant…"

"Swimming trunks?"

He looked back inside and nodded, "Ah, right, I should go get that."

"Come on, Earl; pack a bunch of things, we're going to be gone for quite a long time."

"True, true…"

The two jolted up in utter shock as Seppuku kicked the bedroom door open, he pointed at the two immediately with a strict expression, "Make sure you have enough room to fit some assault rifles in there."

Chiya's eyes were still quivering in fright; she had become so used to the quietness of the base that she had completely forgotten about Seppuku's obnoxious style of living. Earl raised an eyebrow at him and shook negatively, Chiya nodded at Earl's negative shaking.

"We don't need guns."

"Idiot, what if you come across Dark Million?"

Earl chuckled, "Who would we be confronted by, Rose? Skull- oh wait…"

Seppuku didn't seem to have a clear response to this, he merely quirked his mouth and shook negatively, "Blood Falcon is still out there, and both of you understand just how powerful he is…"

Chiya widened her eyes, "B- but assault rifles won't stop him, we wouldn't even scratch him!"

Earl grabbed her hand to try and calm her down, Seppuku fake gasped and slapped his cheek, "Oh, oh my God! You're right!" he grinned and held his fist up, "I guess I better accompany you two, just in case he shows up…"

"No."

Seppuku growled at Earl, "Wh- what- that's some pretty good protection you're giving your girlfriend, pal…" he said sarcastically.

"If Blood Falcon _is_ alive, he has better things to do than hunt me and Chiya."

"No, he doesn't!" Chiya and Earl both appeared surprised by this response, "He and me are very alike, and let me tell you; if I have nothing to do, he has nothing to do."

Chiya was trembling in fear at this warning, but Earl was remaining defiant, "He won't even know that we're on Big Blue; not even Jody will know."

Seppuku crossed his arms angrily, "I imagine the Bat's trying her hardest to hunt me…"

"Ouch!" Jody slapped a mosquito that was on her hand, crushing it instantly, "Now, how could there possibly be a mosquito out during the winter?"

Jody was looking through several papers along with Rick and Mr. EAD. They had received a series of recent receipts showing who had purchased alcohol in the past week. Guns, alcohol, and tobacco were the only items that stores required identification for. The only thing that was boggling Jody's mind was why a storeowner wouldn't report that Seppuku had purchased beer from them.

"Rick."

Rick lowered his paper and turned towards Jody, "Yeah?"

She threw her paper down and growled, "This is never going to work! There's gotta' be a hundred of these things!"

"We certainly picked out a difficult task, but I bet with a little more work we'll find our answer."

Jody nodded and picked up another paper, "You know, the worst part is that we very well may have already found his name a million times now…" Rick raised an eyebrow at her, "It's not like his actual name is _Seppuku_…"

Rick nodded, "He's just like Blood Falcon and Black Shadow—refuses to tell."

Jody shook negatively, "Well, I know Blood Falcon's identity, because I know Captain Falcon's identity."

Rick grinned, "Anyone I know?"

Jody hesitantly shook negatively, "His name's Douglas."

Rick instantly began to laugh, "So, Blood Falcon's name is Douglas?"

"Douglas Jay Blood Falcon, yes."

Rick set down another paper and sighed; he picked up another one and quickly scanned it for Seppuku's name. Jody appeared just as frustrated, she was also picking up constant calls while doing this, which lengthened the process. EAD raised an eyebrow and slowly glanced over at Jody.

"Jody, I found a name."

She widened her eyes and grunted, "You did!?"

EAD nodded and squinted at the paper, "Chiya Flower."

"C- Chiya?"

Rick and Jody exchanged glances, Rick only knew Chiya somewhat, but even he was surprised to hear that Chiya would purchase alcohol. Jody rubbed her chin and lowered her eyebrows.

"…she claims that she recently became a drinker…" she closed her eyes and hummed, "But why wouldn't she go for the good stuff?"

Rick shrugged, "This isn't a very strong beer. Maybe she's trying to drink beer that doesn't make her too intoxicated."

Jody nodded slightly with a troubled look, "But how does that explain the dark photo..?" she muttered in confusion.

"Wouldn't hurt to head over and do a second checkup."

"God, that will look very suspicious…"

"We just head over and do a very brief check around Seppuku's office. We're bound to find something out of line if they truly are harboring him."

Jody rubbed her chin and hummed in agreement, Mr. EAD seemed to have no personal opinion in the matter. Jody ultimately nodded and stood up with nothing more to ponder about.

"Alright, I'll fabricate another search warrant. Hopefully, I can be granted the warrant by morning."

Rick nodded and held his waist, "I'll come along if you want."

"Why?" she asked almost hostilely.

"Two heads are better than one."

Jody narrowed her eyes and looked out the large window of her office, she looked down upon the Lower City and crossed her arms, "Somehow, I feel that Seppuku is watching our every move…"

Jody would surely arrive at Seppuku's base for a second checkup within the next day; but alas, she would find no one inside. Several hours had gone by and the three were already several light-years away from the Milky Way. Going into space was always an adventure for Chiya and Earl, as for Seppuku, this was no more interesting than taking a bus. The _Purring Kitten_, _Red Dove_, and Earl's new vehicle were stored in the back of the ship.

Chiya was sitting on the couch watching television with Seppuku; Earl was refilling the refrigerator with food and beverages. Chiya had a look of humor on her face as she watched one of her favorite shows, Seppuku appeared somewhat irritated.

A very attractive actor brushed her hair aside and flailed her hands, "But, Carl! How can you take Shannon to the prom, when you already promised to go to the movies with Sam!?"

The laugh track played after she said this, Carl patiently waited for the laugh track to stop. He widened his eyes and flailed his hands around randomly, "I dunno-o'!" the laugh track played after this as well.

Chiya began to giggle; Seppuku raised an eyebrow at her and scratched his chin, "What's so funny?"

She turned towards Seppuku with a squirming smile and pointed at the TV, "Because, Carl can't go to both the prom _and_ the movie!"

Seppuku looked back at the show and quirked his mouth more strongly, Carl was randomly wiggling his arms in the air while the laugh track played.

"I don't get it…"

"Blimey, you're just as much of a wet blanket as ever!"

"This isn't funny."

Chiya glared at him, " the movie!"

Seppuku looked back at the show and quirked his mouth more strongly, Carl was randomly wiggling his arms in the air while the laugh track played.

"I don't get it…"

"Blimey, you're just as much of a wet blanket as ever!"

"This isn't funny."

Chiya glared at him, "_You're_ not funny!"

Seppuku smirked, "I disagree, I'm hilarious. But Carl needs to get his spine ripped out while someone gags him to death with a rock."

Chiya was left staring at him with a twitching eyebrow, "Seppuku, it's just a show—for kids!"

Seppuku groaned and grabbed the remote, "To Hell with this, let's watch something actually entertaining."

Chiya frowned, "But I wanna' watch the show about the talking starfish…"

Seppuku grinned, "Hey, a porn channel."

Earl widened his eyes and instantly dropped the food he was holding. He rushed over to the couch and snatched the remote out of his hands, turning it to the military channel immediately. Chiya's eyes were left spinning with a twitching eye at what she had just witnessed.

"Seppuku!" Earl lectured very loudly.

"Oh, relax, they were all still clothed."

Chiya's eyes were still quivering, "W- w- what were those guy doing to her..?" she asked in disbelief.

Earl grinded his teeth, "Something neither of us should ever know about…"

"Not true, that channel could help-"

"How about that Grand Prix, huh?"

Chiya and Seppuku looked over at Earl; Seppuku nodded and smirked, "Alright, final game plan before we get to Big Blue..?"

Chiya nodded, "I'm going to ride out this fake alliance with Goroh and Guster, stay allied with Captain Falcon, and possibly try to get the Federation to guard me."

"Love it, so in a sense, you're going to be fooling eight racers."

"Yep, to ensure that I win the Grand Prix with ease!" she widened her eyes and glanced over at Seppuku slowly, "Seppuku, your daughter is going to be competing this year. You're not gonna' fight her, are you?"

"Daughter?" Seppuku thought about this for a few seconds before snapping his fingers, "Ah, Lily Flyer…" he chuckled and crossed his arms, "You know how rebellious teenagers are, she won't strike me."

Earl pointed at Chiya, "Remember, try and get Princia on good terms off the bat. Something as little as F-Zero could bring prosperity between Mysteria and Magica."

She groaned loudly, "I couldn't imagine Mysteria aligning with those warmongers…"

Seppuku grabbed the remote out of Earl's hand and smirked, "Let's check up on that one girl…"

Earl quickly covered Chiya's eyes and lifted her up, "Alright! Off to bed with us!"

Chiya later found herself lying alone in bed; Earl was already asleep in the other one. She was staring at him from across her bed with a blank expression. She was simply staring at the spot of his bed that looked so empty, she could hardly resist the urge to jump into bed with him and snuggle. She sighed and closed her eyes. It seemed that the closer the two came to their two year friendship anniversary, the more she wanted to merge beds.

"I wonder if he's excited..?" she asked herself.

Earl was completely locked in a slumber, not a single part of his face would move. She smiled at him and turned her head towards the ceiling; she pulled her blanket up to her collarbone and exhaled. _I must be close to marriage, once we get in bed our love for each other will grow..!_

For whatever the reason, Chiya wasn't afraid at the slightest to give up her independent sleeping. She felt truly prepared to make sleeping a non-personal activity, even if the person she was sleeping with wasn't her dear sister; rather, a man. She hugged her arms happily, once again beginning to daydream what the perfect life would be for her. _Me and Earl living happily on Big Blue or Aeropolis, nine-to-fifteen babies, Seppuku can be their pretend grandfather, no Dark Million, the biggest pet shelter in the world, best racer in the universe…_ this very thought had knocked her out—she had cradled herself to sleep within an instant.

No matter how the two looked at it, having children would be a bad idea with Dark Million on the loose, and Jody Summer breathing down their necks. Both knew that prison was no place for their children to meet their parents, nor would having a single mother or single father be good in the event that Dark Million kills one of them.

The Grand Prix may appear to be nothing more than an exhilarating sport, but this time it was much more. The Big Blue race would indeed be the first step to the endgame of Chiya's adventure... she was destined to bring fame and fortune to the Flower name; she brought the fame, now all that was left to do was obtain the fortune. However, in Chiya's eyes, she had already obtained the greatest fortune of all…

The next day, the ship had landed, and everyone was well rested. The three stood by the loading ramp of the ship with straight postures. Seppuku crossed his arms and smirked as Earl prepared to open the loading ramp door.

"Prepare for the most beautiful sight you'll ever see…" he chuckled and shrugged, "Well, aside from the sight of me bashing up the Blue Falcon two years ago."

Chiya took the warning with massively built up excitement, she crossed her fingers and widened her eyes. Earl pressed the ramp door and approached Chiya as the door slowly opened. Chiya widened her eyes in shock as the brightest amount of sunlight she had ever witnessed shined through the crack of the opening door. Earl and Chiya both grunted loudly as the door gradually lowered, the sun and bright blue sky was now visible. Chiya's jaw dropped in awe as the door finally opened.

"Blimey…"

Big Blue—the planet was 99% sapphire blue water. Seagulls flew all across the ocean, beautiful gentle waves slammed against the metal buildings sticking out of the water, the air was at a moderate temperature, the sky was bright, and the scent of the planet was quite possibly the most refreshing thing Chiya had ever smelled.

Earl wrapped her arm around Chiya passionately, "This is beautiful."

Chiya took a whiff of the air and exhaled happily, "It's like God just put a breath mint up against my nose…"

It didn't even take Chiya a mere second to decide that this planet was amazing. The best way to describe this was that the planet shared similarities to Venice, Italy; but much nicer. There was no pollution; no trash, no odors, and the racetrack off in the distance looked incredible.

Big Blue was truly going to be an experience she would never forget…

To be continued…


	18. Lap 17

==Lap 17=

The Lower City was silent as always, and no human life seemed present on the streets. There were homeless bums and families sleeping in alleys in desperation for shelter, many even shared alleys with other homeless families. This was a strange part of Mute City, it was almost as if the homeless had created a whole new type of culture, one that shared similarities to a tribe. These people understood that they would never get back on their feet, so they had become accustomed to the impoverished life as their wealthy Upper City counterparts prospered. The literacy and overall education of these people were very lacking, the Japanese language was slowly turning into a more primitive version. If improvements were not made in the Lower City within the century, it would be too late; there would officially be a new type of Japanese culture spreading nationwide. Regardless of what could ever change in the Lower City, the Japanese culture was destined to one day be divided.

A homeless man was lying soundly against the wall of an alley with his child in his arms as they slept. There were nine bums in this alley, none of which had clothing that wasn't tattered and soiled. The man's closed eyes began to quiver at the sound of footsteps coming down the sidewalk. He opened his eyes and turned his head towards the light in anticipation to see if he would need to defend his family from muggers.

Two people were walking down the sidewalk, but they stopped after discovering the bum filled alley. The man squinted and grunted fearfully at what he was seeing, the silhouettes of two figures stood before him, but the person he was staring at was arguably one of the most despised figures amongst the bums.

Jody lowered her eyebrows sadly at the sight of the man; she was easily feeling sympathetic for his desire to care for the young during such trying times. Rick was accompanying Jody; he had a crushed look of awe on his face as he looked into the alley. Rick couldn't help himself; he knew that he had to help.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet, Jody grunted and turned towards him; three bums widened their eyes at the sight of the wallet. Rick began to pull out a small sum of credits, but Jody grabbed his hand tightly. Rick looked into her eyes and gritted his teeth.

"Jody?"

Jody shook negatively at him and forced him away from the alley, continuing on with their mission. Rick didn't put away his wallet, but he continued with Jody none-the-less. By now the entire group of bums had become excited by the sight of money, only to be disappointed as the two ended up walking away. Five of the bums gathered around the alley entrance and proceeded to stare at the two in awe.

Rick looked away from the poor citizens and sighed, "What was wrong with giving them some change?"

Jody lowered her eyelids, "These people are animals. If you had given them money, they would have betrayed each other…"

Rick grunted, "You're not being serious, are you?"

Jody looked at him sadly, "Believe me, I've been dealing with the Lower City for many, many years. I've seen it all before. They'll thank you, but once you leave, the violence rises."

"But-"

"They're better off staying united and poor, than fighting over pocket change."

Rick sighed again and hesitantly nodded, "When can we help them?"

Jody looked up and found that Seppuku's base was up the street, "I haven't forgotten about them, believe me. We just need to wait until Federation controlled planets become self-sustaining. Once this happens, we can relocate our interest towards the Lower City and bring business to the people."

"So what you're saying is that the Lower City will develop after planets like Sand Ocean fully develop?"

Jody nodded, "Yes."

"In that case, we won't be seeing much change for a couple more decades…"

"Unfortunately, there is no easier way without enforcing some kind of corrupt totalitarian rule," she looked up at the sky with a strong gaze, "Colonizing a continent on Earth took a very long time. Colonizing planets like Sand Ocean is much more difficult…"

The two crossed the road and approached the alleyway leading to the base's entrance. Rick nodded and put his hands in his pockets, "So Seppuku's been very hard on these people?"

"I'll admit it, he wasn't always a burden on the Lower City. His vigilante organization was genius, but his method of running it was wrong…" she lowered her eyebrows, "He claims to fight crime, but all he's been doing these past years is killing those who have been cheated in life and have to resort to the life of crime…"

"He doesn't arrest them?"

Jody chuckled, "That's why we kicked him out of the Federation, Rick. Shoot first, don't ask questions. That's the Seppuku way of fighting crime."

Jody opened the entrance door and immediately forced herself into the dark lobby. She raised an eyebrow after entering and hummed curiously at the lack of noise. Rick entered with her and shut the door behind him, the two scanned around the lobby cautiously. Jody grabbed out her laser striker weapon and narrowed her eyes.

"Watch yourself, Rick. Seppuku somehow survived in that coffin without getting caught, God knows he could be hiding in this base somewhere…"

The two entered the hallway together, Rick had his handgun tightly in his hands, "If he were here this whole time, wouldn't he have killed those two?"

Jody shook negatively, "Something's wrong, Rick. I'm suddenly fearing that Seppuku is holding them hostage, making them his slave…" she raised her eyebrow as she thought back to her previous encounters with the two, "They _were_ acting a bit suspicious. It would certainly be typical of Seppuku to be threatening them with death if they refused to bow before him…"

Jody licked her lips and lowered her eyebrows. She originally planned on calling or at least knocking before the checkup, but she felt that forcing herself in by surprise was the only way she could catch Seppuku red-handed. Rick was becoming very nervous as they approached the door to Seppuku's office. Neither of the two were going to bother entering the other rooms, Jody merely wanted to check out his office and hopefully kill him before he could react.

"Alright, get ready to fire…" Rick nodded and cocked his handgun; Jody grasped the doorknob and held out three fingers, "Three, two, one…"

She kicked open the door and instantly rolled onto her knees, Rick took steady aim at the desk, but both grunted loudly. Somewhat as expected, the office was vacant of any life. Jody sighed in frustration and got back on her feet.

"He's not here…"

Jody rolled her eyes and approached the desk, "Yes, that's kind of obvious, Wheeler."

Rick turned towards the door and held his hand up to his mouth, "Ms. Flower! Mr. Bendek?" he called out loudly.

No response was made, leaving Rick and Jody to conclude that no one was home. This didn't stop Jody from going the extra mile, however.

Rick grunted after seeing what Jody was doing, "Jody!" Jody was digging through the desk for any clues, "We have a warrant to enter the building, not go through their things!"

Jody shook negatively, "I'll take the heat. We _need_ to search for any clues…"

Despite Rick's sudden outburst, he nodded and approached the garbage and recycling bin, he looked inside and raised an eyebrow. There were no beer cans inside of the recycling bin, nor was there trash in the garbage can.

"No beer," he reported.

Jody opened the central part of the desk up and very carefully scanned the writing utensils inside, "Everything looks untouched, leading me to believe that neither Chiya nor Earl had touched his possessions."

Rick rubbed his chin while looking through a drawer, but he was only finding old records he had collected from both Red Star and the Bloody Chain. He shut the drawer and turned towards Jody.

"Can we just conclude that Seppuku _may_ be in the Lower City, but not _here_..?"

Jody quirked her mouth and reached for one final drawer, "In a minute."

She opened the drawer very slowly and looked inside, one of the first things she found was a photo of her in nothing but her undergarments. She grunted softly and began to faintly blush.

"…I was such a wild cat back then…" she muttered softly.

She couldn't help but gaze down at the photo for several for moments; she lowered her eyebrows with quivering eyes. Something about the photo was putting something in her mind, something very important. Her eyebrows momentarily rose, and her eyes gradually became bigger. She grunted while staring at the half naked photo, as staring down into this drawer had finally delivered a clue to her.

"…the vibrator is missing…" she whispered softly to herself.

"Did you find something?"

Jody gasped and shut the door loudly, "Uh, uh…" she stood up and cleared her throat, "Yes, something's missing from the drawer, something fairly dear to the Lieutenant…"

"What is it?"

She glanced away from him and shrugged, "You don't wanna' know…" she concluded her mission; this wasn't solid evidence that Chiya and Earl were being held against their will, but it was enough to fill Jody's suspicion, "Rick, we need to get back to headquarters."

"New mission?"

She nodded, "We need to dispatch units, fast! Chiya and Earl are both missing, and we need to find them!"

Rick nodded, "I'll call Tanaka and have him set it up right now."

Jody nodded and leaned against Seppuku's desk while holding her forehead in frustration. She lowered her eyebrows and shook negatively. Rick walked into the corner of the office with his communicator, instructing Tanaka on what Jody wanted. Jody looked down at her glove and lowered her eyelids slightly.

"It's funny, Seppuku…" she spoke in a bland tone, "It seems that we can't live with each other, nor can we live without each other…" she closed her eyes and clenched her fists, "But no matter what, a cease to hostilities will _never_ end…"

The gorgeous blue waves of Big Blue slammed against the base of a hotel, the sun was shining bright, and only the sound of birds and waves could be heard. Complete silence engulfed the planet, making this quite possibly one of the most relaxing planets in the universe.

A bright pink beverage with ice cubes arose, the ice cubes sank to the bottom of the glass slowly. A droplet of water ran down the glass slowly. The straw of the beverage slipped between Chiya's soft lips as she drank. She momentarily removed the straw and exhaled, she then licked her lips slowly.

"Hard to imagine that people live here…" she said in a relaxed tone.

Earl nodded with his eyes closed; he had a soft smile on his face as he relaxed. The two were on the deck of their hotel, which was very similar to the private booths they had in F-Zero races. Chiya and Earl were lying together on separate foldable chairs. Chiya was in her black bikini and stock hat, Earl was in his blue swimming trunks. This was one of the first things the two did, rather than exploring the planet right away. Seppuku, of course, was expected to stay inside of the ship while the two vacationed.

Chiya crossed her feet together and turned her head towards Earl, "Can we really afford this?"

Earl chuckled, "Compared to the other suites of Big Blue, this is as cheap as it gets," he rested his head against his arms and smirked, "Fortunately, we got that celebrity discount."

Chiya nodded while smiling, but her smile quickly turned into a frown of disappointment, "Mauser would have liked this place, I wish we could have brought him…"

"You and Seppuku are always waking him up to pet him, now he can finally have uninterrupted sleep. This basically is a vacation for him."

"B- but, Mauser loves me!"

"I'm sure he loves you too, but let's be honest; Mauser's a lot smaller than you."

Chiya returned a somewhat insulted look, "I know that, Earl; he's a bloody cat…"

"I'm just saying, your love can hurt small things."

"I don't hurt Mauser!"

Earl opened his eyes and quirked his mouth, "Uh, well, moving on…"

"I can't wait to explore this place!"

Earl nodded, "We could check this place out now, if you want."

She groaned and looked down at her hips, "Oh God, I'm not sure if I can even get up…"

Earl stood up and grabbed her hand, "You can do it."

"But this is so relaxing!"

Earl helped her back onto her feet; she stretched and yawned loudly before turning towards the door. Earl looked over at their clothing and momentarily approached it.

"Hey, we don't need to put our clothes on," Earl raised an eyebrow, "This place was made for sunbathing; it's not weird if we walk around like this."

Earl contemplated about this for a few moments; he ended up shrugging at the statement, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll encounter a lot of people in their swimming gear."

With this being said, the two walked out of their hotel room and proceeded down the hallway. The building was very luxurious; the hallways were painted, jarred plants were placed for decoration, the lighting was bright, and the floor was made out of some type of rough carpeting. The hotel wasn't the only building in Big Blue that appeared luxurious, almost every building appeared well-constructed. Far out in the water were buildings with green domes, along with these were mineral extractors. The green domed buildings were factories that would extract salt water from the ocean and convert it into drinking water.

Chiya and Earl exited the hotel and walked down a large fleet of stairs onto a massive metal platform. The planet had several populated areas, but since there was no landmass, the planet was divided into platforms of buildings. They were currently on Platform B-6. Chiya looked up at the sign above the central platform that was labeled _B-6_ with an intrigued look.

"How many platforms are there?"

Earl shrugged, "Big Blue's been around for a long time now. Believe it or not, it was the first foreign planet to host races."

Chiya widened her eyes, "Really?"

"Falcon, Goroh, Pico, and Kevin Stewart—they were the original racers."

Chiya glared aimlessly off into the distance, "How the Hell did a filthy man like Goroh become one of the first?"

"Back in the day, apparently, the prize money was only about ten-thousand credits."

"What!?"

They stepped into a robot-controlled hover-bus and took a seat in the back, this bus would take them from platform to platform. Earl pressed a button labeled _A-1_, which would tell the robot to take them to Platform A-1.

"Years ago when it all started, F-Zero wasn't that big of a deal," he widened his eyes and wiggled his fingers around, "Oh, man! Four guys flying around in hovercrafts. So-o exciting!" he said sarcastically, Chiya blinked a few times as she listened, "Once the rules began to change around to the point where combat modules and a new boost power system were implemented, the game began to gain more popularity."

"F-Zero is God's sport…"

Earl shrugged with a smile, "Well, if the Pope had an F-Zero machine, I'm sure God and Jesus do as well."

The hover-bus took off from Platform B-6 and began its speedy travel across the ocean. Chiya looked out the window in amazement; the bus was going just as fast an F-Zero machine. Earl held up a planetary map that was inside of his chair's pocket. Chiya glanced over at him and scratched her neck.

"Where are we going?"

"Let's find out," Earl dragged his finger from Platform B-6 to A-1; naturally, he found that A-1 was the first platform to ever be constructed on Big Blue, "Platform A-1, looks like we can find the original track of Big Blue here, along with a few government buildings and souvenir shops."

Chiya nodded, "Sounds cool, but we shouldn't go souvenir shopping, gotta' hold off on spending before we're forced to take out a loan."

Earl nodded in absolute agreement, "Not to mention, I'm still trying to tuck away as much money as possible for Project Neptune."

Chiya didn't respond to this at first, but a thought momentarily crossed her mind that she was curious about, "Is it your galaxy that has the planet Neptune?"

"_Your_ galaxy?"

She nodded, "I wasn't born in the Milky Way, I was born in the Imperium galaxy."

Earl slowly nodded, "Yes, Neptune is a planet in the Milky Way."

"Is it a nice place to live?"

Earl chuckled, "Nothing very interesting in the Milky Way. Most of the planets are uninhabitable, Earth and Mars are the popular planets—Neptune is just used to keep convenient fueling space stations orbiting around it."

The bus momentarily approached a massive metal platform with several buildings and other much smaller platforms. Of course, the part of Platform A-1 that amazed the two was the classic racetrack that was connected to the platform.

Chiya slapped her cheek softly in awe, "Th- that's a racetrack!?"

Earl nodded, "Yeah, apparently…"

The two immediately exited the bus and gazed upon the simple looking track. Chiya was becoming overly excited and began to bounce on her toes constantly; Earl smirked at her and nodded.

"Alright, we'll go check out-"

Before he could finish, Chiya began to sprint towards the racetrack. Earl grunted and chased after her seconds later. Chiya's hair was swishing back and forth as she ran; she had a smile on her face. Something about running half-naked felt very refreshing to her, perhaps because it was so rare for her to be this exposed in the first place. Chiya looked back as she ran and widened her eyes; Earl appeared to be chasing after her playfully. She began to giggle while running more quickly.

Several government officials were watching the two run from inside of their office. One scratched his head and quirked his mouth.

"Why are there two half-naked people chasing each other..?"

Another man shook negatively with a smirk, "I don't wanna' know…"

Chiya came to a stop at the starting line of the track; she puckered her lips in excitement and began to suck on her finger. She widened her eyes and turned her head at the sound of loud quick moving footsteps approaching her.

"Earl?"

Earl tried to stop, but he had attempted to come to a complete stop right over a puddle of water. He slipped forward and clumsily ran straight into Chiya's back, the two were sent to the ground immediately. Chiya grunted loudly with one eye closed tightly. Earl quickly got on his knees and gritted his teeth.

"Chiya! I- I'm sorry! I was just playing-"

She stood up and chuckled softly, "It's fine, I'm alright."

The two looked out at the track together in awe; Chiya appeared the most surprised at what she was seeing. The track was quite possibly the simplest design she had ever seen in her life. There were few sharp turns, no loops, no twists, one restoration pad at the start, and only a few boost pads. The part that truly amazed her was that there were no loops; the track remained flat, making the gravitational aspect of F-Zero pointless.

"My lord, this looks like it was made for track-and-field, not F-Zero!"

Earl nodded with a grin, "What do you think? Does this look hard?"

Chiya snorted humorously and shook negatively, "No, I would mop the floor with anyone on a track like this," she widened her eyes and grunted, "I- I'm not racing _here_, am I?"

Earl began to laugh, "Hell no! This was before boost power used up your machine's energy. If you were to use a modern F-Zero machine here, you'd be done with your three laps two or three minutes maximum."

She smirked, "Is the track that I'll be racing on as boring as this one?"

"You and I were playing on the track in that video game, remember?"

Chiya snapped her fingers, "Ah, right! I was doing pretty well until Seppuku came and killed my Captain Falcon!"

Earl smirked and wrapped his arm around Chiya, "I came up with a joke about Seppuku last night…" Chiya beamed at him, "It's a _little_ sexual though, you wanna' hear it?"

"Yes, please!"

Earl patted her shoulder a few times and sat down on the track with her, "So, Seppuku walks into Bart's Café on a Sunday- …"

Seppuku was sitting on the couch of Chiya's ship with a displeased expression, he was watching television, as this would generally be all he could do for the several days that the three would be on Big Blue. Seppuku, however, was not watching a program very appropriate for his age.

A cute looking Korean cartoon character waved, "Do _you_ know where the great chairman of Korea is?"

An even cuter version of the chairman of Korea was clearly visible behind her. Seppuku slammed his fists down and growled, "For the love of God, how about you turn your God damn head, and you'll see the God damn chairman!"

The character blinked a few times, "Wait, you see the chairman of Korea?"

Seppuku grinded his teeth, "He's behind you! You stupid idiotic-"

"Great!"

"Great? Great!?" Random cute animals began to scroll across the screen playing instruments, this was about all Seppuku could handle, "Oh my God! It's like this show was handcrafted for people who get high!"

He stood up and stretched his arms, it was only the afternoon, and Seppuku was already bored out of his mind. He dipped his head down and sighed sadly.

"…guess I'll go drink nonstop for ten days…"

He walked into the kitchen and quickly forced open the refrigerator, he grunted at what he was seeing. There was no beer, only flavored water.

"Wh- what!?"

A note was stuck to the fifty bottles of water, Seppuku swiped the note into his hands and lowered his eyebrows as he read:

Dear Seppuku,

I took the liberty of buying you all of this water instead of beer. Beer is bad, water is good! Believe it or not, water can be fun as well! Remember when we went swimming, hahaha :3

Well anyways, I hope you have a fantastic vacation! I know we will, remember, you need to stay inside of the ship, Seppuku!

With kisses and love, XOXOXOXOXOXO,

Chiya!

Seppuku remained absolutely still with the note shaking in his hand. He clenched his fist and crumpled the letter up.

"That's it, I'm out."

Without further hesitation, Seppuku walked over to the couch and equipped his assault rifle. He pressed open the door and immediately marched down the ramp into the bright sunshine. Chiya and Earl knew that Seppuku would desire to defy them by leaving the ship—but he had officially done so mere hours after landing.

Chiya and Earl later sat together in a restaurant; they were now on Platform B-3. The two were enjoying slabs of meat prepared for them. Just like the hotel they had received a celebrity discount, this time by the manager. It was becoming clear to Chiya by now that she would be buttered up by just about anyone who knew who she was. Considering Team Seppuku was in such a big deficit, neither of the two felt bad accepting any of the discounts.

Many people in the restaurant watched Chiya eat in awe, surprised to see the F-Zero racer eating in such a regular establishment. What was just a bit more surprising than this, however, was that the two were half-naked.

Chiya looked back at some of her peers and smiled, then back at Earl, "I think they're surprised to see us..!" she whisper excitedly.

Earl had a nervous smile and nodded, "Yeah, but, no one else seems to be in their swimming gear…"

She looked back once more and hummed, "That's true, bu-ut…" she got a cute smile and swished her hand at him, "Oh, come on, if you were given the opportunity to walk around this planet butt naked, wouldn't you do it?"

"No!"

She raised an eyebrow, "You don't like walking in the nude?"

Earl's eyebrow began to twitch, "Y- you've done this before?"

"We used to go swimming at a New Ontario resort all the time in the nude, so yes."

Earl widened his eyes, "_We_, yo- you mean this was a family thing?"

"Yeah, me, Mom, and Abby; not Dad though..." she closed her eyes and giggled, "I mean, could you imagine? Naked with your dad, that'd be so weird…"

Earl sank down into his seat and grasped his forehead, "I have a lot to learn about Mysterians…"

A teenage girl momentarily approached the two while trembling; Earl raised an eyebrow at the girl. Chiya caught Earl's look of intrigue and momentarily turned as well. The girl had a quivering smile and was holding up a paper and pen. Chiya beamed at her and waved.

"Hi-i!"

The girl was trying to speak, but appeared nervous beyond comprehension. She had a quivering nervous smile and momentarily shoved the paper and pen in front of Chiya.

"Y- you're so cool!"

Chiya was caught off guard by this strange sounding request for an autograph, but she smiled none-the-less, "Yeah, sure thing!"

The girl was wiggling her fingers around with a frantic smile, she briefly looked at Earl, but retreated after their eyes met. Chiya completed the autograph by putting a flower at the end of her name.

"The flower is how you know it's the real deal. Any autograph without the flower is fake."

"Wow…" she swallowed and brought the paper up against her chest, "Do you think that you'll win this year..?"

Chiya and Earl exchanged glances, she looked back up at her with a smile, "I'd like to think so."

"Wow…"

Earl smirked at her and crossed his arms, "Want an autograph from her trusty mechanic?"

"No."

Earl glared at her for a brief second, "Wha-"

"That's so cool that you're doing stuff at a restaurant on Big Blue…"

Chiya grinned at her confidently, "I might just move here with Earl in the future."

"Do it! That would be awesome!"

The excitement of this random girl almost made Chiya want to move to Big Blue, but she was still contemplating whether she'd want to live on Aeropolis instead. Both planets were amazing her so far, but ultimately, she was still a bit more impressed by Aeropolis.

"You have a very nice planet, I must admit…"

The girl grasped Chiya's hands, "Please! Take first place here, it would be so awesome if you could leave Big Blue a winner!"

Chiya smirked, "I think I have some pretty good chances of winning. I might even go and practice on the track a bit before the actual thing."

The conversation was momentarily intervened into as the manager of the establishment came up from behind. Earl widened his eyes at the man's sharp moustache, the moustache alone made it clear to Earl that trouble was about to brew.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you two to leave."

Chiya, Earl, and the teenage girl all gasped, Chiya glared at the manager.

"For what!?"

The manager crossed his arms, "We don't tolerate public nudity. I'm sorry."

Chiya launched out of her seat in a fury, "Public nudity, do you know who I am!?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Yes, you're that one girl that finished the Grand Prix last year in twelfth place or something."

About twenty minutes later, Chiya was in the hotel bedroom changing her clothes in a fury.

"Unbelievable!"

She yanked her bikini bottom down her legs and tossed it up in the air, Earl was sitting on the bed looking away from her. He was already back in his usual attire tapping his fingers along his leg as Chiya changed, but her bikini bottom landed over his head. He grunted loudly and looked up at the black fabric.

"We weren't even naked! I guess I had some cleavage showing, sure, but that's the point of a bikini!"

Earl carefully removed the bikini bottom from his face and placed it beside him, "Some places are very strict on that stuff, I'm not too surprised that we were kicked out so-" Earl grunted as Chiya's bikini top landed on him as well.

"It's bloody crap!" she brought her pink panties up her legs and narrowed her eyes, "-and how dare he…" she clipped on her bra and growled, "How dare he humiliate me in front of a fan like that! I am a professional racer and should be respected by all!"

"Not everyone loves F-Zero. Some like it and some don't like it at all."

"That's just stupid."

"Some people don't care if you win a billion credits or not. That man's trying to run a business; people were probably disgusted by our near nudity."

She threw her shirt and shorts on with a very offended expression; she crossed her arms and shook negatively, "I hate this place…"

Earl widened his eyes, "Oh, come on…"

"The people here are mean! Not like on Aeropolis…"

Earl shoved his finger up in the air, "One person, one person lectured us. That one manager doesn't represent the people of Big Blue."

She sighed and closed her eyes, "I know, I know…"

"If you think about it, we're not really on a beach or anything; we're foreign to this planet," he chuckled silently, "It's kind of like if a Russian came to Mute City wearing a bikini around the place. It'd look strange to us."

"I suppose you're right…"

Earl sat by her and smiled, "I'll admit, I think you look very, hot, in that bikini…"

Chiya dipped her head down and blushed happily.

Seppuku stood on the edge of a platform with his scarf blowing with the wind; he had a profound smirk on his face as he gazed out towards the ocean. He had been outside of the ship for a fair amount of time now, yet he hadn't been spotted by anyone. He was still bored, but getting fresh air was enough for him to get by with.

"Dude, is that Lieutenant Seppuku!?"

Seppuku bobbed his head up and grunted, there were three darkly clothed teenagers standing behind him. He raised an eyebrow at the three and nodded affirmatively to the question. The teenagers responded by loudly exchanging excited words. Seppuku crossed his arms and shook negatively.

"Can I help you?" he demanded.

One of the teenagers had long hair that was covering his eyes, "Hey, man, can you sign my hoverboard?" he asked holding up a board.

Seppuku stared at the hoverboard for several moments, now realizing that these three were on his side. He crossed his arms and nodded, "I need a marker…"

"Here," one responded after handing him one.

Seppuku spun the marker around a few times and quirked his mouth, he looked down at the hoverboard and wrote down the two letters _LS_ along with his actual initials. The teenager looked down at his board and grinned.

"What do the other two letters mean?"

Seppuku spun around towards the water again, "They're my actual initials."

"You're awesome, man."

Seppuku grinned, "Yeah, I am…"

The teenagers remained behind him for a few more seconds. The teenager with the board tilted his head, "Did you used to skate when you were young?"

Seppuku grunted and spun around, "When I was _young_!?"

The three began to tremble, but one began to laugh while trembling, "Dudes! Lieutenant Seppuku's gonna' kill us!" he shouted excitedly.

Seppuku stole the board from the teenager's hands and slammed it down by the rear, "Please, I ride an F-Zero machine. Of course I know how to ride a board!"

He put his feet on the board and clenched his fists; he kicked his foot down to turn it on. The teenagers watched in awe as Seppuku proceeded to ride around the three in constant circles.

"Who-oa…" all three said slowly.

Seppuku didn't appear to be struggling to keep control of the board; he was going at a very fast speed. He stopped circling the three and proceeded to do more stunts around the base of the platform. People were now watching him, but for some reason no one seemed to recognize him as Seppuku. He rode back towards the teenagers at full speed, as if he were going to run straight into them. The three gasped and ducked down as Seppuku performed a massive jump at the last second. He had leapt over the three and landed behind them while still riding. He performed one final stunt by driving towards the edge of the platform and leaping.

The three gasped and got up, "Whoa!"

Seppuku came to a stop over the edge, the board was hovering over the massive body of water. He stood perfectly still on the board with his arms crossed as the board kept him from falling off the platform.

"H- how are you doing that!?" the teenager shouted in amazement.

"I'm standing on air…"

"Aren't you afraid that you'll fall!?"

Seppuku shook negatively, "I'm very concentrated. Most of you teenagers are thinking about boobs and beer, but not me, I'm fully concentrated on the task at hand." Seppuku rode up to the three and dropped the board on the ground, "So, think wisely next time before calling someone as cool as me, _old_."

"But we think you're awesome!"

Seppuku smirked, "Thanks."

"We were all laughing our asses off last year when you smashed that little baby's machine at the finish line."

Seppuku's smirk slowly faded away after hearing this, he too found this slightly funny, but for some reason it wasn't very funny this time. He watched as the teenagers laughed, but they were momentarily silenced after seeing that Seppuku was bothered by this.

"Seppuku?" Seppuku continued to stare at the three, he shook negatively and grasped one's arm, "What are you doing!?"

He reached up the boy's sleeve and quickly pulled out a carton of cigarettes, Seppuku smirked and shook negatively, "Well, that _baby_ doesn't smoke, plus she's fought in two wars by my side." The teenagers were all left stunned by this, Seppuku shook negatively at the two, "But I'll commend you three, it's very hard to insult someone behind their back."

The three appeared overly disappointed by this, the boy holding the board cleared his throat, "Uh, I mean, she was great, just not as good as you…"

Seppuku spun around with a smirk, he exhaled loudly and held his waist, "I don't like to admit when I've lost, but let me tell you…" he pointed back at the three without looking, "Had she been prepared for my attack, she woulda' won last year. I surprise attacked her and betrayed our alliance, there was nothing _cool_ about that."

He sighed and put his hands in his pockets, "But anyways, you got your autograph; so I'll be leaving now…"

With that being said, Seppuku walked towards the hover-bus. The teenagers were ultimately shocked, as they had expected that the person they admire so much would have agreed with them on most things, not lecture them. Seppuku ordered the bus to exit the platform, but he didn't sit, he remained standing in the bus as it momentarily took off.

Later on that night, Chiya and Earl had retired to the bedroom of their hotel suite. Chiya was now standing on the deck in her nightgown, Earl was lying in bed watching TV. Their first day of vacation was fairly bumpy, the restaurant was the only part of the vacation that Chiya didn't like, she was truly hurt by what happened. She wasn't someone who could take criticism very well, nor was she someone who had an easy time being yelled at. Even an experience as frustrating as that wasn't enough to keep Chiya from obsessing over the nightlife of Big Blue.

Chiya turned around and entered the bedroom with a smile, "Earl, you need to see this. It's so beautiful…"

Earl exhaled slowly and nodded, "Alright, alright, I'm getting up…"

Chiya walked back out onto the deck again and leaned against the railing. Earl yawned and stretched his arms as he walked towards the door. Chiya had her fingers curved around the railing tightly as she gazed at the natural beauty of the massive ocean. Earl approached her from behind and grinned, he got beside her and put his fingers around the railing as well.

"Isn't this the most beautiful sight you've ever seen?"

Earl nodded, "This is pretty majestic…"

She rested her cheek on his shoulder with the same smile, "There's so many places we can go, so little time…"

Earl shook negatively as he stroked her hair, "That's not true. We have a long time to spend together, we'll narrow down our choices in the end and pick the planet we like most."

She blinked a few times, "…does Big Blue have school?"

Earl puckered his lips, "For children?"

She glanced down at her feet and nodded, "Mhm…"

"I'm sure that it does."

Chiya was tapping her toes down nervously as she looked back-and-forth between Earl and the ocean. She bit her lip and tugged on her gown.

"I was just curious, because children are great, and our future…" she lowered her eyebrows, "…I really like babies…"

Earl nodded with a distracted grin, "Yeah, babies are cute…"

Chiya was trying to build up the strength to add into the conversation that she wanted a baby, but this was taking a lot of buildup. She breathed in slowly and grabbed both of his hands.

"Earl…"

He turned towards her and looked her in the eyes, "Hm?"

Chiya began to tremble greatly, prepared to finally drop the question. Her eyes were gradually widening, fearing what his reaction would be. She mostly feared that Earl would consider her a _slut_. She instantly became lost in Earl's brown eyes. The question made it up her throat into her mouth, but her lips were sealed tightly.

"Are you alright?"

Chiya's lip began to quiver, and with one final moment of hesitation, she exhaled loudly. She frowned and lowered her eyelids in utter disappointment, "…what color paint should we use for the walls in our animal shelter..?"

Earl smiled and shrugged, "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue."

Earl sprung his finger up, "Then blue it shall be!"

Chiya faintly smiled at him, "Okay."

A shock then went through her body as Earl wrapped his arms around her and pushed her against the railing of the deck. He forced her head back, leaving her with a stunned expression.

"Earl!"

Earl leaned over her and locked lips with her, she grunted with her eyes still quivering, before realizing that he was trying to create a romantic scene. Chiya closed her eyes and dropped her arms down, letting them dangle over the ocean. Earl tightened his grasp on Chiya as he sucked on her lips, after about a minute, he let go and stepped away from her. Chiya stood up tall with an immense blush.

She let out a faint laugh, "D- done already?"

Earl waved at her and smiled, "Goodnight, Chiya…"

Chiya waved back while retaining her bright smile. Earl turned off the lights and got in his bed, Chiya continued to stare at him through the window. She was still smiling, but deep inside, she was somewhat sad. She exhaled and leaned over the railing again as she gazed up at the glimmering beauties that filled space.

"Don't you know, Earl..?" she closed her eyes with a slight smile, "…you shouldn't keep a princess waiting…"

Jody would officially be off-duty in five minutes, but she remained behind her desk none-the-less. Rick and Jack were both in more average attire as they stood in front of her desk. Jody was spinning her pen around in her fingers with a very serious expression.

"You two are holding me up from sleeping, this better be important…"

Rick nodded, "EAD found something online an hour ago…"

"Oh?"

Jack pushed a printed image towards her, "This post was made on a social media site, it came with an attached photo."

Jody swiped the paper towards her and squinted, "_I got it_?" she read confused.

Rick nodded, "But look at what she got."

Jody squinted more carefully, the photo was of a paper with something written on it, but she couldn't make out what this was.

"Th- this handwriting, it's so, so-"

"Hard to read?"

"So girly!" she squinted again at the photo, everything quickly became clear to her after doing this, "Wait a minute…" she slammed the paper down with her teeth gritted, "This is Chiya's autograph."

Rick and Jack both nodded, Rick crossed his arms, "The girl who posted this is from Platform A-1, Big Blue."

"Big Blue? She left for Big Blue, already?"

Jack closed his eyes, "Sounds a bit suspicious to me!"

Jody grunted calmly while rubbing on her lip, "Why would she and Earl be on Big Blue?"

"The Grand Prix..?" Rick asked somewhat insultingly.

"Yeah, I got that part, Wheeler…"

The three remained silent for a few moments, Jody was contemplating on what to do. Either way, she planned on leaving for Big Blue in a few days, but she was confused as to why Chiya and Earl would leave for the planet so early. The Grand Prix wouldn't start for a little more than a week, which led her to believe that they were up to something.

Jody got out of her seat and crossed her arms, "Rick, go inform Stewart that I want him to take over temporarily. We need to leave for Big Blue tomorrow."

Rick nodded, "Should we get a bigger searching party made than just you and I?"

Jody nodded, "Yeah, I suppose. Not Jack, I don't trust you…"

"I wouldn't trust myself either."

Jody rubbed her chin, "I'll ta-ake…"

"Me, me!"

Everyone turned and found that Tanaka had come out of virtually nowhere, Jody lowered her eyebrows, "Wha- what? How did you-"

"You, me, and Rick!"

Jody looked back and forth at her two companions, she sighed and nodded, "Yes, perfect. Together, we'll track down Chiya and Earl…"

Rick raised an eyebrow, "What are you expecting to get out of them?"

"A glimpse, of their puppet master…" she clenched her fists, "I'll catch Seppuku abusing them, and just like that, we'll take care of the bastard for good!"

The four remained silent, Jody narrowed her eyes and waved her hand around a few times, "But one thing, don't tell anyone else about this mission; especially Stewart, he wouldn't condone this kind of mission…"

Rick smirked, "Good, the sooner we find Seppuku, the sooner we can get back to other important matters…"

"Alright, everyone get a lot of sleep. Jack, you go tell Stewart that he'll be taking over this HQ temporarily. Under no circumstance do you allow him to conclude that we're on a Seppuku-related mission."

Jack saluted her, "Yes, Jody."

Jody clapped her hands loudly, "Alright, now get out of my office! It's past midnight!"

The team left her office as a group, Jody pushed her chair into her desk with an emotionless expression. The hunt for Seppuku was becoming much more personal, as the Federation was officially stalking Chiya and Earl. Chiya and Earl would simply relax for several more days, but as soon as they would learn that Jody is looking for her, the vacation would instantly become a struggle.

All Chiya and Seppuku needed to do was stay out of Jody's sight until the Grand Prix, but unfortunately…

…Jody always seeks perfection when it comes to missions…

To be continued…


	19. Lap 18

==Lap 18=

Three days had passed, and only four days remained before the first race of the annual Grand Prix. Chiya and Earl had enjoyed three more days on Big Blue together, they didn't bother to check up on Seppuku within those few days, but neither of the two had ever heard any police sirens go off-so they knew Seppuku was doing alright.

Jody Summer, Rick Wheeler, and John Tanaka had arrived on Big Blue days ago and had begun their search for Chiya and Earl. They planned on catching the two by surprise, in case Seppuku was indeed with them; by doing this, he would have no time to hide. They were unable to track down Chiya's ship, but they had other methods of tracking the two down. Despite the fact that this was a vacation, Earl and Chiya had quickly found that lying in the sun was the best thing they could during their vacation. This was certainly showing too, as both lovers were now fairly crisp looking as a result.

Chiya was once again in her bikini lying on a foldable chair beside Earl, she had puckered lips and was rubbing her now-golden skin.

"Is this permanent?"

Earl shook negatively, "No, it'll go away pretty quickly when we get back to Earth."

It seemed that every part of Chiya's body was tanned by the sun at this point; even the parts between her fingers and toes were fairly crisp. She smirked and chuckled softly.

"Have you ever looked like this before?"

Earl began to laugh, "Hell no, this is a new experience for me, and I kinda' like it…"

Chiya beamed as she scanned her body for any remaining bright areas, "I don't think a single part of my body was left peachy!" she lifted her bikini bottom up and stuck her tongue out, "Never mind, still peachy down below."

"So we've come to an agreement on the new dimensions that Good Odds will have?"

Chiya nodded, "Yes, we'll add a new section to the building to ensure that the animals have a nice little play area."

Earl nodded and crossed his arms, "Alright, hopefully Seppuku can be convinced to help us out with that. He practically built the entire base we live in all on his own."

"We have a very nice home."

"Yes, but we could do better."

She pointed up in the air with a smile, "-and we _will_ do better!"

The two looked out towards the waves happily, but this day wasn't quite as bright as the other days. The sky was somewhat filled with dark clouds this time, leaving the two to conclude that there would be rainfall later in the day. More people showed up on Big Blue every day that went by, as the Grand Prix was just around the corner. While neither Chiya nor Earl had seen this, reports were coming in that F-Zero racers were finally arriving at hotels. Beastman, Super Arrow, and Mrs. Arrow had reportedly entered the same platform that Chiya and Earl were residing on.

"Four more days, how are you feeling?"

Chiya gritted her teeth and breathed in, "I'm starting to feel nervous now," she lowered her eyelids, "I probably should have practiced a little more…"

"You'll do fine, that's just the pre-season fright that every racer gets."

She nodded and slowly got out of her chair; Earl turned towards her and raised an eyebrow, "Are you heading inside?"

She opened the door and looked back at Earl, "It looks like it may rain soon."

Earl looked out at the sky and bit his lip, the dark clouds were getting somewhat close to their platform, "Yeah, I guess I'll turn in as well."

The two entered their room together; Earl shut the door while Chiya quickly leapt onto her bed. She wiggled her body over to the side of the bed and gazed upon a large written blueprint the two had put up on the wall. They had sketched out the interior of Good Odds, the blueprint was complete, but it was still open for edits.

Chiya hummed while kicking her feet back and forth as she observed the blueprint, she held up her pencil and pointed it forward, "Do you think we should really put decorative plants out near the entrance?"

Earl got on his bed and observed the blueprint as well, "Yeah, it'll look great."

"Yes, but considering we have so many low-life citizens wandering around the Lower City-"

"Are you suggesting that we may endure vandalism?"

"Maybe, I mostly fear that they would steal and sell the plants."

Earl nodded very slightly as he stared at the blueprint, "Perhaps we can think of another way to spice up the entrance."

"Right, but it needs to be inexpensive…"

Earl nodded in agreement. The two remained lying on their beds as they contemplated about this matter, by now they felt that there was no going back; they were determined to start this shelter together. They key to building the shelter quickly would be to get Seppuku onboard somehow, as he was a fairly skilled architect. Knowing Seppuku, convincing him to tear down a bar and build a pet shelter over it would be difficult.

Jody and Tanaka were sitting in the back of a hover-bus together as it soared across the ocean at maximum speed. Platform B-6, where Chiya and Earl were residing, was very far away from Jody. The secret operation to track down Chiya and Earl was still on, but Jody was struggling to find any evidence of the two being on the planet aside from the recent autograph that a teenage girl native to Big Blue had received from Chiya. Despite the fact that Jody was having little luck in her search, the fire of determination in her stomach continued to burn brightly.

"Where are we going again?" asked Tanaka.

"Wheeler called in and reported that he found a lead."

"On Chiya and Earl's location?"

Jody slowly shook negatively with an unshakeable blank expression, "No, he claims to have found a lead on the Lieutenant," Tanaka grunted loudly, "If we find and take out Seppuku, there won't be a need to bother those two."

"Even if they may be working for him?"

"What do I care? If Seppuku dies, those two have little more they can do to us."

"-and what if they have them under some kind of mind control?"

Jody lowered her eyebrows, "I refuse to endanger those two. If they are under some kind of evil spell, we're going to try our hardest to fix them."

Tanaka nodded and rested his head back against his chair, he slowly glanced over at her and wiggled his fingers around, "Uh, nice weather we're having…"

Jody shrugged, "I agree…" she slightly grinned and pointed at the dark clouds, "Nothing spells out beauty like a storm."

Tanaka rolled his eyes up towards the sky and bit his lip nervously, "Jody, when was the last thing you and I did anything together?"

Jody blinked robotically, "Presently, we are."

"Oh, yes, but…" he closed his eyes with a silly smile, "I was wondering if after we're done with this mission, you and I could head over to a sauna and-"

"Wheeler doesn't like saunas."

"Y- yeah, but I meant you and I-"

"Hold that thought for later, we're here."

Tanaka sighed and dipped his head down as the bus approached a platform. Jody glanced towards the center of the platform and raised an eyebrow; Rick was standing in front of four darkly clothed teenagers. She wasn't sure what Rick could be doing with teenagers, but she had a feeling that it would be interesting. The bus door slid open and Jody leapt down onto the platform perfectly; Tanaka came down as well, but he grunted after landing roughly on his feet. The hover-bus momentarily released a small fleet of stairs that the two were supposed to use.

Rick turned towards the two as the teenagers stood beside him; Jody was approaching them with a look of clear frustration. She didn't trust that mere teenagers would have any information about a highly wanted fugitive.

"Rick, who are these kids?"

A teenager holding a hoverboard laughed, "Cool, it's the Bat!"

Jody came to a stop and narrowed her eyes, "E- excuse me?"

"This group claims to have spoken with Seppuku."

Jody hummed and crossed her arms, "Are you sure that you weren't high on drugs at the time?"

"Dude, that's profiling…"

Jody growled, "I find it highly unlikely that the Lieutenant would come to Big Blue and speak with a bunch of teenagers…"

The boy held up his board and laughed, "I got his autograph on my board."

The three widened their eyes and gasped upon seeing the sharp letters; Jody bit on her lip and lowered her eyebrows at the other two initials he had written. She was instantly left wondering what his name could be, but she pushed this thought aside to continue on with more pressing matters.

"Wheeler, is it authentic?"

Rick examined the board for a few moments, then shrugged, "It looks pretty authentic to me, I used to give autographs back when I was a formula racecar driver-"

"Yeah, yeah…" she poked the teenager on the forehead, "When did you get this?"

"Seppuku was staring at the ocean, so, like, we went and asked for his autograph, y'know?"

"_When_?"

"A few days ago, he did some pretty cool tricks for us on my hoverboard."

Rick and Tanaka exchanged confused glances, but Jody continued to stare into the boy's eyes, "Why didn't you call the police sooner!?"

"Because, Seppuku's cool!"

The group began to collaborate amongst each other in agreement; Jody shook negatively and crossed her arms, "What did he say to you?"

"He rode my board, talked about that one girl-"

"Chiya Flower?"

"Yeah, he was defending her after he took away my smokes," he widened his eyes and backed away from Jody, "Uh, uh, I mean, not cigarettes, I mean-"

Jody gasped, "Wait, did you say that Seppuku was _defending_ Chiya?"

Another boy stepped up, "He said that she's cool because she doesn't smoke, and that she's a war veteran."

Jody narrowed her eyes in heavy suspicion, "I see…"

Jody turned away from the group and instantly left the area, Tanaka and Rick followed her away. She had a troubled look as she walked, having found a crucial piece of evidence suggesting that Chiya and Earl were working with Seppuku. Tanaka ran up beside her and puckered his lips.

"Isn't there more to be asked?"

Jody didn't move her eyes nor her head at the slightest as she walked, "I got all the info I need," she stopped near the hover-bus and turned towards her companions, "Seppuku is on this planet, and for whatever the reason, he was defending the person he supposedly wants to kill."

Rick nodded slightly, "That does sound fishy to me…"

"The F-Zero racers who have already shown up on this planet seem to be saying on Platform B-6. I believe this is the first place we check for either the Lieutenant or Chiya and Earl."

"Do you really think that they're staying in a public place?"

Jody stepped back into the bus and nodded, "Those two don't need to worry, the Lieutenant does. But that man's very elusive, I'm sure that he's hiding with them wherever they may be staying."

The three all got on the bus together; Jody sat on the end of a seat calmly. Tanaka beamed and prepared to sit beside her—but Rick quickly placed himself next to her. Tanaka grunted and clenched his fists.

"Hey!" the two looked up at him, he gritted his teeth and grunted, "Um, I mean; hey, look, the storm is starting!" he said pointing towards the clouds.

Jody smirked slightly at the dark clouds.

"Come on; come on, just a drop…" Seppuku begged over the stove.

Seppuku had a very frustrated look on his face; his lips were very dry as he had a bowl full of yeast in the microwave. He practically had his face against the microwave as he watched the bowl spin. He was holding a bottle of water as he did this, he was attempting to add a homemade substance to the flavored water—but was clearly failing.

"Just a drop, all I need is a damn drop!"

He bit his lip as he watched the bowl spin, but he momentarily threw his hands onto the microwave and opened it. He pulled the bowl of yeast out immediately and looked down; he had merely made the yeast warm.

"Gah!" he shouted angrily as he stomped his foot down constantly, "I just need some alcohol!"

Seppuku wasn't as much of an alcoholic as Earl used to be, but the simple fact that Seppuku was denied the beverage was making him want it more to the point where he was going insane. He slammed the water down on the counter and flailed his hands in the air.

"This is so stupid! I was getting all the beer I could ask for in Jody's dungeon!" he face palmed and groaned, "But this is worse!"

He had been taking the risk of wandering around outside almost every day, but he knew that he couldn't enter a store and purchase any liquor, as this would likely get him tracked down by the Federation. The sad truth for him was that he would be unable to exercise any freedom with Jody searching thin and wide for him. The only thing he was looking forward to was the Grand Prix, as he would be able to confront Jody with F-Zero committee protection. His only hope was that he could successfully convince Jody that they have a common enemy—Blood Falcon.

Seppuku approached the _Red Dove_ silently with a bland expression; he gazed upon the thickly painted blood red metal of the body. He swiped his hand across the metal and shook negatively.

"There was a time where we were on the same side…" he dipped his head down and sighed, "What's your beef with me, Summer..?"

Earl sank his teeth into a thick slab of beef and ripped it in half. He proceeded to chew on the small piece of meat as Chiya and Earl remained sitting on their beds. The two were fairly content with their current blueprints for Good Odds, they planned on beginning work on the building immediately after returning to Mute City. They had come to the conclusion that the entire building would get a makeover; however, they wouldn't overdo it as they feared that vandalism may occur.

Chiya turned her head towards Earl with a smile, "Earl, I wanted to know if you could take a walk for an hour or so tomorrow."

Earl raised an eyebrow, "What for?"

She slightly lifted up a part of her bra, revealing her usual bright skin color, "I kinda' want to tan out my entire body."

"A-ah…" he chuckled softly, "Nude sunbathing."

"Is that weird?"

"No, you should feel very relaxed doing this."

Chiya closed her eyes while smiling; she stretched her legs far out into the air along with her arms. Earl glanced over at her and licked his lips as she did this. He couldn't help himself, he found himself staring down Chiya's long bare leg. She stretched her toes while he legs remained shot up in the air. Earl held his cheeks as his eyes slowly moved along her smooth legs up to her waist. She momentarily brought herself back down onto the bed softly and exhaled.

Earl felt that his heart was beating rapidly; Chiya opened her eyes and looked over at him. She lowered her eyebrows at him in confusion; he had a very distracted look of awe on his face.

"Earl?"

Earl continued to stare at her legs with quivering eyes, "I'm good…"

She widened her eyes after realizing that she had once again forced a dirty eye onto his face. Once again, she decided to play around with him by running her finger along her waist with lowered eyelids.

"Are you in the mood to give me a massage..?"

Earl nearly choked as he swallowed again, he looked up at her shoulders while biting his lip, "M- massage?"

Chiya knew exactly what she was doing this time, and she didn't hesitate to get down to the point. She fell down onto her chest and slowly slipped her finger under her bra strap.

"Yeah, my back's hankering for a rubbing."

She tugged her finger up, snapping the bra off. Earl widened his eyes as he gazed at her back—there was a bright stripe of skin going across her back because of the tan. Earl grinded his teeth and clenched his fists, as if he was being controlled. He stood up and wiggled his fingers around franticly.

"Yes, I want to give you back massage."

Chiya raised her eyebrows in shock, she breathed in and wiggled her fingers around nervously. Earl climbed onto her bed with a fairly hypnotized looking grin, he was out of control with what he wanted to happen. Chiya didn't plan on wasting time, she grasped Earl's hands from behind and forced them onto her back.

"Rub my skin around..." she demanded softy.

Earl nodded and began to push his wrists against her back, Chiya lowered her eyelids and bit her lip excitedly as her skin was being pushed around. Of course, she was merely waiting for him to commit his first sexual act on her, because once he did anything sexual at the slightest to her, she was going all-in without interruptions…

BAM! Earl and Chiya both gasped as the door to their room was struck loudly. Earl immediately felt that his actual person had taken over again, and he immediately lifted himself off of Chiya. Chiya quickly strapped her bra back on and gritted her teeth in fright.

"Earl!"

He walked up to the door but looked back at her, "Yeah?"

She dropped her arms down with a frown, "Are we gonna' continue after you answer the door?" she asked sadly.

Earl nodded, "Sure, sure."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and growled softly. She could tell by his simple words that he was instantly out of his perverse mood, he would likely come back and give her a back massage—but nothing more.

Earl opened the door quickly, a shock went down his spine the very first second he saw who was at the door.

"Wh- what-"

Jody pushed Earl aside and marched into the room with her laser striker equipped, Tanaka and Rick were waiting outside while Jody did her checkup. Chiya widened her eyes upon seeing Jody and grunted.

"J- Jody!"

"Where is he!?" she demanded loudly.

Earl closed the door behind him and quickly approached Jody from behind, "I'm right here."

She narrowed her eyes while still staring at Chiya, "You two know who I'm looking for…"

Chiya's eyes immediately began to quiver immensely, "Seppuku?"

"Where's the Lieutenant, Chiya? I'm done playing games!"

"He's not here!" Chiya shouted back.

Earl nodded, "Seppuku isn't here."

"Drop the act, I know you two are working for him again. I've got all the evidence I need!"

Chiya and Earl exchanged nervous glances, Earl walked in front of her with an offended look, "What evidence could you possibly have?"

"I have a photo of someone dark walking around with a very weak brand of beer."

Chiya glared at her, "-and..?"

"_You_, went out and bought this exact same brand!"

Chiya widened her eyes and grunted, Earl shook negatively, "Chiya drinks beer, but she doesn't like too much alcohol," Jody swiftly turned her attention towards Chiya, she was nodding with a very scared expression, "That beer is only a bit stronger than most wines. It makes sense that Chiya would drink this brand over one that would have overly damaging effects on her."

Jody quirked her mouth, "Is this true, Chiya?"

"Y- yes."

Jody smirked and slowly reached into her backpack, "Oh, well, then might I offer you…" she pulled out the same brand that Chiya claims to have drank, "A can of beer?"

Chiya grunted and dipped her head down, the last time she drank a can of beer, she found herself vomiting in the toilet constantly. This was an experience she didn't want to relive.

"I shouldn't, me and Earl are discussing a project together and I need to stay-"

"Drink it."

Chiya shook negatively, "I don't want to…"

"Drink it!"

"No, please…"

Jody marched towards her and forced the can against her belly, Chiya grunted loudly and groaned, Jody had accidentally punched Chiya in the process, "Drink the beer, that's an order!"

Chiya whimpered sadly as she rubbed her stomach, "Y- you punched me…" she whimpered.

"No, I didn't. Now drink the damn beer!"

Chiya pushed the can of beer away and closed her eyes, "I- I- I don't want to-"

Earl roughly grabbed Jody's shoulder with an enraged look, "That's enough, Bat…"

Jody glared at him, "…what did you-"

"You can't force someone to drink beer; it's her right under the Constitution of the Galactic Space Federation to refuse this."

Jody narrowed her eyes into slits, but she nodded and closed her eyes with a calm look. She fake grinned and chuckled, "You're right, that isn't my call to make…"

Chiya exhaled in relief and dropped her arms down, but Jody wasn't about to give up, "Seppuku was complimenting you to some teenagers here…" Chiya and Earl both gasped, surprised that Seppuku had left the ship, "That's odd, usually an assassin wouldn't compliment his target…"

Jody looked deeply into Chiya's eyes, "So, what I'm saying, is that Seppuku is here on Big Blue, he's complimented you, and Chiya has randomly started to drink beer that she now refuses to drink…" she narrowed her eyes as she gazed into the very pupils of Chiya's eyes, "If you're hiding something from me, you better spill it before you get yourself into _real_ trouble…"

Earl was trembling in fear as he looked back and forth at Chiya. She was sitting on her bed trembling greatly, she was whimpering constantly as he eyes began to quickly fill up with water. Jody swished her lips around slowly as she closed onto Chiya. Chiya was trying to stay strong to the lie, but she was breaking down out of pressure at last. She couldn't bear the thought that Jody very well may separate Earl and Chiya merely for trying to help an old friend. The thought of this was making her feint, and she finally broke down.

Chiya's face shriveled up as tears instantly began to go down her face, he face had instantly turned red as she momentarily broke into tears. Jody nodded slightly at Chiya, this was a clear message to her that they indeed were harboring Seppuku. The end of the line was here, Jody felt that it was within her rights to comprehend the two. Chiya began to cry somewhat loudly, Earl was frowning at her greatly; a part of him was almost enraged enough to the point where he felt that he could kill Jody. Just as all seemed lost, Earl widened his eyes, now seeing a final opportunity to break free from this interrogation.

Earl roughly shoved Jody aside and got down on the bed with Chiya, he wrapped his arms around her and forced her sad face against his bare chest. Earl looked back at Jody sadly and shook negatively.

"Seppuku's on _this_ very plane, hunting us, and you're not trying to stop him!?"

Jody widened her eyes and gasped, "What kind of sick deranged police force are you running!? There's a man who clearly said that he would come for Chiya, and here you are, wasting valuable time you could be using to protect us!"

Jody looked back at the door and rubbed the back of her head, "Yes, well-"

"Look at Chiya! She's so scared; she's been reduced to a puddle of tears!"

"Earl-"

"Seppuku could be on his way here right at this moment, and all you can think about is trying to accuse us of things that make little sense!"

Jody lowered her eyebrows, "But, Earl, you should understand why the beer incident may have appeared a bit suspicious…"

"I don't care! Get out there and do your job! Find Seppuku, help protect him from us before he finds us!"

Jody grunted again, but slapped her arms against her waist with a loyal expression, "The Federation will always protect its citizens."

Earl patted Chiya's back while nodding, "Then please, keep searching for him," he hugged Chiya tightly, "We're so scared, Jody…"

Jody lowered her eyelids and sighed, she turned around towards the door and nodded, "We'll keep a lookout for him," she turned her head and frowned at Chiya, "Oh, and Chiya…" Chiya looked up at her, Jody dipped her head down, "I- I'm sorry for making you cry…" Jody exited the room immediately after saying this.

Earl and Chiya remained sitting together on the bed; Earl exhaled loudly and wiped his forehead.

"Thank God you started crying…"

Jody was out of the building in mere seconds with her companions; Rick raised an eyebrow at Jody as she walked. Jody had a very bland expression, which was concerning to both Tanaka and Rick.

"So we're gonna' let them off the hook?"

Jody lowered her eyelids sadly, "I'm not a bad person…" she shook negatively, "I'm not going to make a girl cry like that and continue to accuse her of things…"

"So do you believe that they really are harboring Seppuku?"

"I don't know, Rick, I just don't know…" she stopped in the middle of the platform as the sky drizzled rain, "We continue our hunt for Seppuku; as for those two, we'll see who she sides with on the track. If she defends Seppuku, we have our answer…"

"Do you think we'll really be able to defend ourselves if both Seppuku _and_ Captain Falcon are fighting us?"

Tanaka swallowed nervously, "I- I don't want to fight neither of those two!"

"Falcon will come to his senses once he sees Seppuku trying to kill all of us."

Rick got a nervous look, "But is Seppuku someone we can beat?"

She closed her eyes and exhaled nervously, "His machine is well built, even I'll admit that his machine earned the right to be named after the Red Dove."

"You believe in that?" asked Rick.

Jody chuckled as they walked towards the hover-bus together, "Of course not! Archangel doesn't really fit his job description."

Chiya and Earl were later back in their usual attire, both appeared fairly frantic now that they knew Jody was watching them. Naturally, the first thing both of them desired to do was find Seppuku and warn him of Jody's presence. Seppuku could hide, but the _Red Dove_ wasn't going anywhere; if Jody were to enter their ship, their secret would be compromised. Deep in her heart, Chiya knew that if they could make it to the Grand Prix without being caught, they'd be in the clear. Even Seppuku desired to patch things up with Jody for once, but only so she would get off of his back.

Earl opened the door of their room and looked down both parts of the hallway cautiously, he signaled for Chiya to move through the door with his hand. She silently crept out of the room and waited for Earl in the hallway, he closed the door and silently got up to her. The two proceeded to walk down the hallway very silently while scanning their surroundings for Jody.

Both were now convinced that Jody would be stalking the two, but they had to find Seppuku fast. If they weren't careful, Jody would follow them to the platform he was on.

The two carefully rounded the hallways and went down the stairway, Chiya was constantly looking up the stairs cautiously. Earl passed her and proceeded down to the ground floor of the hotel. Chiya was following Earl backwards to ensure that no one was following them from behind. They took these careful precautions up until they got to the exit.

"Good afternoon," said the clerk.

Chiya and Earl both gasped and spun around towards the desk, the woman widened her eyes and dipped her head down.

Chiya pointed at the clerk, "If anyone asks, tell them we're in our room."

She nodded silently in response, "Yes, ma'am."

The two slowly exited the building the scanned the platform carefully, a heavy rainfall had now begun. After realizing that the Federation was no longer on Platform B-6, both exhaled loudly. Chiya looked up and widened her eyes at the sight of such dark gloomy clouds-she frowned profoundly.

"This isn't the Big Blue I love, where's the sunshine?"

Earl smirked, "Jody and Seppuku's on the same planet-I'm pretty sure that's why it's storming."

Chiya giggled and nodded in agreement, she stopped after a few seconds and dipped her head down, "It's raining…"

He nodded, "We'll get back to the ship and stay there for a bit."

She dipped her head down more, "…I'm going to get wet…"

Earl nodded again, "I know, rain sucks," he began to walk across the massive platform, but he quickly found that Chiya wasn't following him.

Chiya rubbed her foot around in small circles, "I don't want to get wet…"

Earl quirked his mouth and nodded, "Well, I really don't wanna' leave you alone here…"

Earl was shivering about three minutes later as he sat in the back of the bus without his jacket. Chiya was now wearing his leather jacket with a somewhat ashamed look on her face.

"I'm sorry…"

Earl sighed and shrugged, "Better me than you, I suppose…"

The bus continued towards a fairly distant platform, the two could vaguely see their ship through the rain. Chiya was becoming very nervous, ultimately fearing that Seppuku was ignoring their request to remain in the ship all week; but part of her also knew that it was unfair to leave him in such a place while she vacationed in the sun with Earl.

"That was kind of harsh of us to make him stay in the ship…"

Earl shook negatively, "We had to, we can't let people know that he's on the planet."

Chiya hummed softly, "Yeah, but from what Jody said, it sounds like he was out talking to people while we were away," Earl frowned somewhat and crossed his arms as he continued to shiver, "Maybe we should just get a refund on the last four days we have the hotel reserved."

Earl aimlessly glared, "-for what?"

"So we can head back to the ship."

"No thanks, I would rather enjoy my vacation with _you_, not him."

"You wouldn't be enjoying your vacation with him, you'd be doing it with both of us."

Earl shook negatively, "You know Seppuku, he hates seeing us together or something. All he'd do is talk about fighting Dark Million and all of that stressful stuff."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows slowly, "You really want to keep hanging out with me in that hotel room?"

"Of course!"

She smiled at him with her eyebrows still lowered, "Huh…"

Seconds later, the hover-bus came to a stop at the platform and dropped down the stairs. The two carefully moved down the stairs; Chiya had to be especially careful since she wore boots. Unfortunately, Chiya's mind was elsewhere, as she stepped down to quickly and slid off a layer of water that was on one step. She screamed briefly and flailed her arms wildly, but Earl quickly grabbed her waist and prevented her from tumbling down. She was hyperventilating as rain continued to pour down on them.

"Don't worry, I've got you."

He helped her down carefully while holding her hand, Chiya was still shocked at what had just happened. She wouldn't have died if she fell, but she could easily have broke a few bones by slamming against the metal platform. The two stepped down onto the metal and looked up at her ship.

"Thank you, a broken nose would have been a terrible way to start off the Grand Prix."

Earl smiled at her as they walked, Chiya had a determined look on her face as she moved. She momentarily widened her eyes and gasped as Earl squeezed her nose.

"H- hey!"

He wiggled her nose around with a cute smirk, "Certainly couldn't have had that happen!"

The two continued to walk towards the ship as the rain poured down against the metal roughly. Chiya's hair was getting soaked, but her shirt was staying dry since she was wearing Earl's jacket. Earl was completely drenched with water, one of the first things that Chiya noticed was that she could see through his shirt. She puckered her lips and raised an eyebrow.

"A-aw, I can see your nipple!" she said excitedly.

Earl swiftly glared at her and grunted, "C- Chiya, knock it off…"

"Well, maybe you should have worn a bra."

"Well, maybe I shouldn't have let you wear my jacket."

Chiya widened her eyes and dipped her head down, "I'm just kidding, thank you for letting me wear this…"

The two walked up to the door of the ship and opened it, Chiya widened her eyes and grunted upon looking inside-the ship was dark. Chiya's blood instantly boiled at this discovery, she stomped her foot down on the ground and growled viciously.

"Blood Hell! He _did_ leave the ship!"

They entered the loading section of the ship and walked past the _Red Dove_ and _Purring Kitten_. The lights automatically flickered on as they entered the living room, but Seppuku was nowhere to be seen. Earl hummed and scanned around Seppuku's quarters, but he wasn't sleeping either.

Chiya opened the refrigerator and gasped, "He's not even drinking any of the water I bought him!" she pulled a bottle of water out for herself and proceeded to drink out of it, she exhaled and wiped her lips, "He obviously left to go find some beer."

Earl nodded in agreement, "Probably, and you know what's gonna' happen if he goes walking around Big Blue drunk…"

She exhaled and face palmed, "Alright, Seppuku's gonna' die."

"Let's just hope he doesn't run into Jody…"

Both gasped as their shoulders were suddenly grabbed, "Jody Summer?"

Chiya's eyes were quivering in absolute shock, Seppuku was now towering over the two. Earl lowered his eyebrows and gritted his teeth, the door to the ship was still closed.

Earl pointed at the door, "H- how did you get in here without opening-"

"I'm not drunk, and what were you saying about Jody?"

Chiya looked back at the door as well, then back at Seppuku, "Seppuku, you _need_ to stay in the ship. Jody's here and she's looking everywhere for you."

Seppuku crossed his arms and chuckled, "Let her come; as you can see from your mother, I have a natural talent in persuading women to see things the other way…"

"This is serious, Seppuku!"

"I doubt that she'd be able to lay a finger on me."

Earl shook negatively, "Don't play with her, she's really determined to kill you…"

"Not capture me?"

"Seppuku, have you been paying any attention to the news? Jody has literally initiated a manhunt for you!"

"Nice."

Chiya grinded her teeth and growled, "Okay, fine, can you just stay inside until the Grand Prix begins?"

"This platform hardly has anyone on it, why can't-"

"Please, just for once can you listen to us? Seppuku quirked his mouth and hummed in discontent, Chiya crossed her arms, "Is it really that hard of a request to accommodate?"

"Fine! Jesus! I'll stay in my cage, Master!"

Chiya tried to grab his hand, but Seppuku forced it back; Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "Just wait, we'll fix all of this when the Grand Prix starts. Soon you'll be able to walk around Mute City as a free man again."

Seppuku leapt onto the couch and threw his arms into the air, "The funny thing is, I _know_ that I could patch things up with Summer simply by conceding defeat to her and apologizing for my crimes. But why the Hell would I do that?"

Chiya gasped, "D- do it!"

"Again, why the Hell would I do that?"

Chiya merely sighed and grabbed Earl's hand, she brought him in front of the couch and pointed at Seppuku firmly, "We finished the blueprint to Good Odds. We were wondering if you would be a super friend and help us when we get home?"

Seppuku grunted, "Wh- what? You're actually going to build that little pet shelter?"

"Yes, and we could use your help."

Earl snapped his fingers, "You did such a good job building the base we all love so much, surely you can help construct new parts to the Rough Odds building."

He smirked at Earl and nodded, "That'd be easy."

The room became silent as the three exchanged glances, Chiya tapped her foot down patiently as she waited for an answer. Seppuku had an intrigued look on his face, clearly waiting for something. Chiya closed her eyes and cleared her throat.

"So-o..?"

"So?"

Chiya brought her hands together excitedly, "Will you help us?"

He laughed in response and shrugged, "Well, maybe…" he rolled his hands around in the air a few times, "See, I'm not some dirty communist like you two; no way I'm gonna' do this for free…" he clapped his hands together and smirked, "You're gonna' need to make it worth my while…"

Chiya scratched her head, "I'll let you give me a foot massage."

Seppuku grunted, "Wh- what the Hell kind of offer-"

"That works with Earl sometimes."

Earl dipped his head down and fake coughed, "Uh, well, how about we do all the chores around the base for a week?"

"Forever," Seppuku countered.

"A month," added Earl.

"Forever."

Chiya chuckled with a snort, "We're not doing your chores forever…"

"Then I want money."

Earl puckered his lips and shrugged, "We don't have money…"

"Bring me to Mysteria so I can have some more _fun_ with-"

"No!" shouted Chiya.

Earl rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Alright, alright. How about-"

Seppuku crossed his fingers and chuckled, "Let's make this easy," he pointed at Chiya with a devious smirk, "If you can beat me in this first race, I'll help you two," Chiya beamed, "If I win, you have to call Jody on my phone and relay hostile jokes I have prepared for her…"

Chiya frowned, "I'm not very mean like that…"

Earl smirked, "How about you just don't help us if you win..?"

"No, she has to insult Jody if I win. I will only accept this bet, there will be no bribing me for my assistance."

Chiya lowered her eyelids and sighed, "Fine, Jesus, I'll accept the bloody bet…"

Seppuku chuckled soundly, "Nothing brews me up more than a good bet…"

The race was in three days, all that was left to do on Big Blue was wait. Seppuku felt fairly confident that he could avoid contact with Jody until then, but in all honesty, he was right. Jody wouldn't dare ask for a third search warrant so she could check Chiya's ship for Seppuku, so the hunt for Seppuku on Big Blue was practically already over.

The Grand Prix was approaching, and Chiya was prepared to finally take home the gold on her second year of F-Zero racing. Either way, the initial challenge of the Grand Prix would be the diplomacy taking place between Jody and Seppuku. As for the race itself, Chiya had only mere rivals to fear.

Would the cold war between Jody and Seppuku finally go hot on the track? The answer was merely three days away…

To be continued…


	20. Lap 19

==Lap 19=

The final days had passed, and the moment of truth was near. One year ago, a young woman with bright dreams had participated in the annual F-Zero Grand Prix for the first time. A year later, she returns to the track more inspired than ever. Many fans around the universe were already predicting that this was the year of Chiya Flower, which would indeed put her in the history books as a leading female racer. If Chiya won the Grand Prix, the female population of the universe would go wild and desire to build machines of their own. Chiya had the power to make change, while making herself a richer person.

It was very early in the morning; the Grand Prix wouldn't start for many hours. Chiya was lying in her hotel bed while groaning loudly, Earl stood by her with a frown. She turned her head and barred her teeth as she groaned even more loudly; the room was only slightly lit up by a dim light. Earl sighed sadly and rubbed her forehead passionately.

Quite possibly one of the most unfortunate things that could ever happen to someone before such a massive event was happening-Chiya had fallen ill.

"Earl, I- I don't-" she closed her eyes tightly and began to gag constantly.

Earl widened his eyes and quickly brought a plastic bucket up to her face, she continued to gag, but nothing came out. Her eyes were leaking somewhat as she momentarily retreated from the bucket and fell back against her pillow.

"I don't feel good…" she whimpered sadly.

"I know, I know…"

She closed her eyes with a quivering lip, "Am I dying?"

Earl shook negatively, "No, you contracted a minor stomach flu virus."

Earl had previously taken a blood sample from Chiya's arm with a medical device and checked to see what was troubling her. She indeed had the flu, but not nearly as strong. Most people had been given special vaccines every few years to help develop their bodies to fight this. Unfortunately, Chiya was born on a planet that was technologically behind; therefore she was never given these vaccines. Unlike Chiya, Earl's body was practically immune to the flu; he could lock lips with Chiya for several minutes and still dodge the flu.

Chiya whimpered loudly and turned her head towards the window, it was morning, but the sun had yet to come up, "I need to get to the Grand Prix…"

Earl lowered his eyelids sadly and sighed, he knelt down and grasped her weak hand, "Chiya, I don't want you to race if you're not feeling good."

Chiya shook negatively almost immediately, "I have to..!"

"We can get by without the billion credits for another year. There's no way I want you racing with a sick stomach."

"Wh- when does the medicine kick in!?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "It should kick in within three hours."

"That's more than enough time, I'll be fine…"

Earl nodded and rubbed her hand softly, "Chiya, please don't try and fool me. If you're still not feeling good later in the day, just drop out of the Grand Prix."

Chiya fought the urge to start gagging again, instead she dipped her chin down and let out another groan, "That's only making me feel worse…"

Earl sighed sadly as he continued to rub her hand gently, "Oh, Chiya…"

She closed her eyes and whimpered again, "What did I do to deserve this?"

Chiya could compete in the F-Zero Grand Prix if she was sick, but this would greatly affect her concentration; the possibility of her vomiting while driving could also put her in great danger. Unfortunately, if Chiya were to miss the first race, she would be excluded from the Grand Prix altogether. Worst-case scenario would be that the F-Zero committee revokes her F-Zero license—the golden key into the big league that she had worked so hard to obtain. One thing was certain, Chiya planned on racing regardless of what her stomach told her.

Chiya gritted her teeth and began to wheeze somewhat, "W- why is the bloody thermostat up so high?"

"It's not; your body is just really heating up right now."

She licked her lips constantly and groaned, "I need cold water…"

Earl quickly nodded and rushed over to the bathroom, Chiya watched him leave with a frown. She couldn't help but put her religion upfront on this matter, she felt that this sudden illness was a punishment bestowed upon her. _What did I do, God..?_ She squinted with a quivering frown as she gazed up at the ceiling. _Am I being punished because we left Seppuku on the ship while we partied..?_ She closed her eyes and sighed very sadly.

"I'm so sorry, Seppuku…"

She continued to speak with her God in her head for several more moments as Earl searched for ways to make a glass of water cold. He entered the kitchen and looked up in the freezer for ice cubes. Chiya stared at him silently for a few moments, but her gaze momentarily began to lower down onto the floor. She raised her eyebrows as she looked down at the vaccine Earl had injected into her. This vaccine contained a white blood cell enhancing drug; once the drug enters a body, it boosts the overall productivity of white blood cells—which will maximize the effort to kill the infection. In other words, the drug was giving the white blood cells care packaged full of weaponry.

Chiya blinked a few times at the vaccine and bit her lip nervously, she looked back up at Earl, then at the vaccine again. _Drug overdose usually has some bad effect on the body…_ she warned herself. She lowered her eyebrows and began to shake her fists constantly. _But this is the Grand Prix we're talking about, dammit..!_

Without further hesitation, Chiya carefully dropped her chest down onto the floor and reached over for the vaccine. Earl had already given her as much as the label recommends, but she was determined to plug in much more than this. She grasped the tube and held up the syringe—which Earl hadn't had the chance to replace with a clean one. She gazed at the sharp blade of the needle with quivering eyes, prepared to overdose on this vaccine. _Alright, here's to a quick recovery…_

"Chiya!"

She gasped and looked up, Earl had instantly charged onto the bed and snatched the syringe from her hand.

"Earl!"

"Chiya, you can't overdose on this kind of stuff! You can't overdose on any kind of drug, it's dangerous!"

Chiya grunted, "I- I just need a little more!"

"Did you read the warning label!?"

She shook negatively, "We need to win the prize money, whatever the cost may be!"

Earl glared at her, "Oh, so, you would reduce your fertility for one billion credits?"

Chiya widened her eyes, "R- reduce my fertility?"

"Overdose of this drug can result in white blood cells failing to develop in eggs." Chiya gasped very loudly, Earl gritted his teeth and grunted, "Oh no, Chiya, you didn't already inject yourself, did you!?"

"N- no!"

He exhaled in relief while twisting off the used syringe. Both were very relieved that an overdose hadn't gone into effect. This was a prime example of why Chiya needed Earl in his life—he protects her.

Chiya widened her eyes as she looked deep into Earl's eyes, "Um, thank you for protecting my eggs..."

Earl slightly blushed and looked down at her belly, "Yeah, well, you know…" he scratched his head with a slight smirk, "Looking out for Little Flower-Bendek…"

Chiya beamed at him and fell back into her pillow; she was pleased to hear him finally speak about having a child. Part of her always feared that Earl ultimately didn't want to have a son or daughter, but this simple sentence told her that there would indeed be a child in the future.

"L- little Chocolate Bendek…"

Earl raised an eyebrow at her with a smile, "That reminds me; what was your mother's maiden name?"

"Fiona Breton"

"Would you have been able to do with the name, Chiya Breton?"

She shrugged, "I suppose."

He continued to stare into her eyes with a smile, he put his fingers around her blanket and brought it up to her neck, "You should rest, your body works more when you're awake. If you're asleep, your body will concentrate on the situation at hand."

Chiya nodded, "Please, at least wake me up when the Grand Prix starts if I'm still too sick. At least then I can watch Seppuku-"

He put his finger on her lips and shook negatively, "I trust that you'll feel better by that time. Just rest…"

Chiya nodded and rested her head back into her pillow softly, Earl smiled and turned off the lamp. She closed her eyes and dug her face into the white pillow with a calm look. Earl patted her head softly with a smile.

"Slumber peacefully, my lovely-"

Suddenly, Seppuku kicked open the door and switched on the light.

"Up and at em'! It's race day!"

Chiya's eyes had instantly shot open in shock; Earl spun around and gasped loudly. Seppuku marched towards the two while clapping his hands, "Still asleep?"

Chiya turned her head towards the door with a look of complete shock, "Wh- what are you doing here!?"

Earl began to tremble immensely, "Did anyone see you come here!?"

"Not many people are on this platform, everyone's trying to claim their seats at the track."

"Already?"

Earl rushed into Seppuku and began to push him towards the door, "No, no, no! Get back to the ship before someone sees you with us!"

"What's wrong with Flower?" Earl lowered his eyebrows and looked back at her; she was lying in bed with a faint look. Seppuku raised his eyebrows and gritted his teeth nervously, "Is she okay?"

Earl dipped his head down and sighed, "…she has the flu…" he whispered.

"Today!?"

"Ss-sh…" he looked back at Chiya and shook negatively, "She'll be fine in a few hours…"

"Bendek, I _need_ Flower to be in this Grand Prix."

Chiya raised an eyebrow, Earl quirked his mouth, "Why's that?"

"We're down to just Blood Falcon; no Michael Chain, no Blaskovitz, no Rose, no Skull," she slammed his fist into his palm, "We need to seize this opportunity, but I need all the help that I can get."

"You don't think that the Federation will help?"

Seppuku let out a mocking laugh, "Jody? On the same page with me? Yeah, right!"

Earl rolled his eyes and continued to push Seppuku away, "Alright, alright, please, just leave-" he grunted and turned his head upon hearing Chiya snore, she had fallen asleep. Earl cleared his throat, "She's asleep, please leave so she can rest and get better…"

Seppuku locked his feet down onto the ground and quirked his mouth, Earl was trying to push him out the door, but Seppuku continued to stare at Chiya.

"Come on, just leave and-"

Earl was roughly pushed aside by Seppuku as he made his way towards the bed; Earl widened his eyes and gasped, "Seppuku! Please don't wake her, this isn't funny!"

"I'll leave in a second."

Earl gritted his teeth nervously as Seppuku approached Chiya; he had a very concentrated look on his face. Seppuku looked down at Chiya's eyelids with a bland expression; she was motionless as she slept. Earl was slowly stood up from the ground; he had a bad feeling that Seppuku was going to prank her.

Seppuku slowly slipped off his right glove and flexed his fingers; he looked down at Chiya and slowly put his fingers down upon her forehead. Earl sighed and shook negatively at him, understanding that he was indeed going to wake her up. Seppuku could feel the warmth of her forehead on his fingertips; he pressed down on her forehead much more roughly and barred his teeth.

"Seppuku, what-"

Earl was interrupted as Seppuku let out a slight grunt; his fingers began to tremble as he pressed down harder on her head. Soon his entire arm began to shake somewhat violently. Chiya raised her eyebrows in her sleep and exhaled loudly. Seppuku gritted his teeth more roughly and momentarily let out a louder grunt. Earl was now heavily disturbed by what he was seeing, he now understood that he wasn't pranking her or anything—he was just acting strange.

Seppuku momentarily removed his fingers from her forehead and let out a panicked groan. He put his glove back on and turned around with a somewhat frail look. He patted Chiya's head and proceeded towards the door silently, Earl was left very surprised.

"Checking her temperature? We have a tool for that."

Seppuku opened the door and leaned against it as he exhaled loudly, he gritted his teeth more tightly and began to slouch, "I'm heading back to the ship."

With nothing more to say, Seppuku shut the door behind him. Earl was left utterly confused, he looked back at Chiya slowly and found that she was now sleeping more soundly than ever. He walked over by Chiya and looked down at her forehead, but there was nothing out of place. Earl continued to stare down at her fore several moments, before sitting on his bed and sighed nervously.

"Please, God, let Chiya race today…"

Later in the day, Jody stood around her machine; she was in her reserved garage on the Big Blue track—_Drift Highway_. She was checking every part of the _White Cat_ for flaws, but she was content with how the machine looked. Her priority remained the same, she was preparing to wage war on Seppuku.

Jody was leaning against her cockpit, but she was startled by the sound of footsteps; only these were footsteps from boots she recognized. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms as Dr. Stewart approached her from behind.

"Stewart, is the Golden Boar ready for combat?"

Stewart nodded to himself, "Yes."

"Is it in a stable condition to fight the Red Dove and Blue Falcon?"

Stewart waited a few moments to respond, this was provoking Jody somewhat, "If it comes down to it, yes."

Jody didn't respond to this, she looked off towards the ocean with her arms crossed more tightly. Stewart continued to stare at her for several seconds, he looked out towards the ocean with her briefly, but quickly returned his attention to her. Stewart finally sighed and brought his feet together, he was finally prepared to speak his mind.

"Jody, it's time to abandon this crazed obsession over the Lieutenant."

Jody whipped her head back towards him with an intense glare, "-and let him destroy the entire universe!? I don't think so!"

"You know deep in your heart that this isn't true," he lowered his eyebrows and pointed at her, "I evaluated you in my office that one day, I got in your head, I _know_ how you actually view Seppuku…"

Jody growled, "If you think I'm in love with him, you're way off, pal!"

"You know that he's not going to help Dark Million, you just want to take him down for your own personal interests."

Jody grunted, "Y- you are to respect me, I am your superior and you will acknowledge my judgment with respect!"

Stewart shook negatively, "I respectfully, refuse."

"Are you quitting the Federation then?"

"No, unless you have me fired. I simply want to race this year, Seppuku is of no concern to me."

"Oh, whatever! Why don't you just go side with him against us while you're at it!"

Stewart sighed and shook negatively, "Good luck, Jody; I hope you get the results you desire from this race…"

He walked out of her garage with his hands tucked inside of his pockets, Jody watched angrily as he walked away. From Jody's point of view, this was practically treason. She didn't understand why dissent was so high amongst her companions, but whatever the case may be, she already lost Captain Falcon and Dr. Stewart. In the blink of an eye, she had lost two of the four original racers support.

"Happy Birthday!" Chiya's soft voice rang.

The simple call had awoken Earl, but he didn't open his eyes. The sound of seagulls could be heard outside, and a cool breeze was in the room. It was clear to him that the door to the deck was open.

He slowly opened his eyes and immediately spotted bright sunshine outside; it was early in the afternoon—nearly race time. He moved his attention to the center of the room; he gasped and widened his eyes. Chiya was up on her feet with an excited look on her face. He was surprised to see how healthy Chiya had suddenly become over the hours, but this was hardly what was leaving him shocked, rather, he was shocked by what she was doing.

Chiya was spinning around the room constantly, throwing very acrobatic kicks and swings. His eyes were quivering in amazement, her punches were leaving a loud swipe in the air, and her kicks left even louder swipes.

"O- oh my God, how are you-"

She swung towards Earl and chuckled, "I am so pumped for this race!"

Earl nodded slowly with a completely taken back look, "I see that…"

She beat her fist into her palm and let out an excited yelp, "Look at me! I'm not just healthy, I'm super healthy!" she laughed as she repeatedly kicked the air, "I feel like I could play a soccer match against New Edinburgh right now!"

Earl nodded and stood up, "Well, I'm glad that you're feeling good. This random boost of enthusiasm should help us in this first race."

"Damn right it will!"

Earl rubbed the back of his head and looked over at the clock, he turned towards Chiya afterwards but then looked back at the clock again and gasped, "W- whoa! Chiya! We only have about half an hour!"

"I know!"

Earl jumped up and grunted loudly, "W- we still need to get the Purring Kitten to the track!"

"Don't worry; I already took care of that," Earl dropped his arms down with wide eyes, "It's sitting in the garage right now, all we gotta' do is head over to the track."

"Wow, um, okay, but did you eat a good healthy breakfast?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and smiled, "Well, a good _tasting_ breakfast…"

Earl swished his hand down, "Well, alright."

She pointed at him with an excited expression, "The real question is, are you ready to go?"

Earl immediately nodded, "Yeah, I guess we better get going."

He grunted loudly and widened his eyes as Chiya dropped down her shorts right in front of him. He looked down at her legs and grunted somewhat perversely.

"Shut those eyes, I need to change."

Earl closed his eyes and beamed excitedly, as this would be one of the first times in a long time that he would see Chiya in her black and blue racing suit. The annual Grand Prix was here at last, and Chiya planned on making a spectacular entrance into the new season.

"Welcome to F-Zero TV sports fans! We are about fifteen minutes away from the first race of the annual Grand Prix kicking off, and everyone is ecstatic to see who will be taking home the billion credits this year."

The co-commentator nodded in agreement, "That's right, and with Rick Wheeler, Lily Flyer, and Princia Ramode filling in some positions, we're in for quite a ride."

"Those will certainly be some racers of interest. Rick will likely help Jody Summer in her mission to fight Seppuku, Lily will have to make a decision on who to help, and Princia Ramode…" he chuckled and crossed his arms, "Well, let's face it. Returning Mysterian racer, Chiya Flower, _has_ to beat the Magican princess."

The camera footage switched over to the entrance of the racetrack, there was a red carpet going down the entrance with several armed committee guards on each side. Super Arrow and Mrs. Arrow were walking down the carpet and were waving to the fans.

"Looks like the Arrows have arrived; two racers who had joined opposite factions for the final race last year."

"Yeah, not to mention, Super Arrow had technically retired Mrs. Arrow from the Grand Prix, along with himself."

Super Arrow flexed his arm to the fans and chuckled loudly. Behind him came Antonio Guster and Samurai Goroh, both were disregarding the fans and were talking with each other.

"There's the notorious Goroh pirate gang leaders, Goroh and Guster."

"Just look at the two, you can tell that both are excited to get this year's race on."

Goroh and Guster continued to walk, but both had become alarmed by the sound of cheering behind them. Goroh turned his head and lowered his eyebrows as he gazed into the eyes of Chiya Flower.

"There's Chiya Flower and her manager."

Chiya waved to the fans excitedly, she of all people could hardly contain her excitement. This was much different compared to her first year of racing; people flashed photos of her, reached out to grab her, and held up fan related items. She was beginning to understand how she had indeed obtained completed the _fame_ portion of her destiny, now she needed the _fortune_.

The two had made it past the fans and were now walking down a large hallway inside of the stadium. Earl was giving her a pre-race pep talk, they intended on splitting up in a few moments. Chiya still had a very energetic person in her, and she was beyond excited to bring every racer to their knees.

"Well, be prepared for that tight turn you were messing up on while playing the video game."

"I know what to do."

"Try and keep away from any rivals you may acquire, just race."

Chiya nodded, "I'll do my best."

He roughly grasped her shoulder, "Be very careful around the jumps, but in case you happen to fall into the ocean; keep your cockpit closed. If possible, though, open it before hitting the water-"

"Earl, I'll be fine…"

He smirked and nodded, "Alright, I believe in you."

The two stopped at the end of the hallway, the stairs leading to the private booths were ahead of them. The two faced each other and exchanged stares. The sound of fans cheering surrounded them, she momentarily grabbed Earl's face and kissed him for a few seconds. Earl smiled and held her cheek as he looked down at her afterwards. Chiya smiled with a twitching eyebrow.

"I- I lo-" he raised an eyebrow at her, she seemed to be having great difficulty in finishing her sentence, "I, uh, I- I like F-Zero…"

Earl's smile slightly faded, he nodded and patted her back, "Well, good luck…"

The two parted ways, Chiya was left standing alone in the hallway as she watched her lover leave for the private booth. Chiya understood clearly that every time she stepped forth onto the track, she placed herself at risk of dying. Every moment before a race had to be shared with Earl passionately, or she risked leaving the world without a final moment for him to remember her by.

She clenched her fists and lowered her eyebrows in determination, "I'm gonna' take home the gold…" she fired her fist up into the air, "Long live the Flower-Bendek dynasty!"

The opening ceremony had ended and the fans were seated or still finding their seats. Earl stood alone in Chiya's private booth; this was the first time he used Chiya's booth over Seppuku's. Remaining in Seppuku's booth would have given Jody most of the evidence she needs that they were still in line with Seppuku. There were ultimately no differences between Chiya and Seppuku's private booth either way.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to an all new season of F-Zero!" the announcer shouter. The crowd got up and cheered upon hearing the introduction, "After such a thrilling Grand Prix last year, both the fans and committee are left wondering what might happen this year!"

The garage doors had opened, the lights to the tracks turned on, and the starting line was glowing brightly blue.

"Without further ado, we will now introduce the racer!"

Chiya could feel her heart beating rapidly as she sat still in her machine, she knew that the racers were introduced depending on what rank they had gotten the previous Grand Prix. Since Blood Falcon had won the Grand Prix, this was the moment many were waiting anxiously for; to see if Blood Falcon was dead or alive.

"Returning Grand Prix champion, tool of destruction and dark clone of Captain Falcon, Blood Falcon!"

Chiya gasped as the crowd began to shout loudly, and just like that the machine revealed itself. Her eyes quivered greatly as she stared at the quick moving machine of Blood Falcon.

"It appears that Blood Falcon has made a major machine modification!"

The announcer was correct, the _Blood Hawk_ was no longer blood red, rather it was black. The name had officially been changed from _Blood Hawk_ to _Hell Hawk_, and a new booster appeared to have been installed into the machine.

Chiya was heartbroken to see that this evil man was indeed alive, "Damn…" it was then that Blood Falcon drove past her, her eyes gradually widened upon catching a glimpse of his machine, "Whoa, damn!"

The _Blood Hawk_ was much different; the machine was now black, had a new booster, and had been renamed the _Hell Hawk_.

The announcer gasped, "Amazing! It would appear that the classic Blood Hawk has been replaced with this, this, Hell Hawk!"

The _Hell Hawk_ raced to the starting line, a bright red flare was coming off the end of the rocket. Blood Falcon had taken it upon himself to successfully make a rocket that flared red fire, rather than the usual blue.

"The man who was cheated in life, now forced to live in a mechanical shell of a body, Mighty Gazelle!"

The introductions continued, all the while Blood Falcon was sitting in the _Hell Hawk_ with a never ending grin. He was without allies, but this wasn't stopping his gleeful mood. After about two minutes of sitting, a tapping could be heard on his window. He turned his head slowly and beamed maniacally.

He popped open the cockpit and chuckled loudly as he slid off the body of the machine and landed on the track, "Captain Falcon…" he greeted.

Captain Falcon rubbed his chin with a grin, "I see that you've redesigned your image…"

Blood Falcon ran his finger down the golden spike of his pickelhaube, "Black really is the color of Dark Million…"

The two continued to stare each other down, Captain Falcon was clearly the aggressor, "You may have won the Grand Prix last year, but this is your last Grand Prix," he growled and clenched his fists tightly, "That is a promise, not an aimless threat!"

"Hm, well here's my promise to you…" he waved his hand in the air with an intense grin, "Mute City, engulfed in a sea of fire. No one survives!"

"A typical Blood Falcon promise…"

The two jolted their heads up upon hearing approaching footsteps, and both got somewhat irritated looks upon seeing who this was.

Jody was flailing her hand towards Captain Falcon while walking, "Captain, I urge you to reconsider your intentions of aiding the Lieutenant in the Grand Prix…"

His facial expression didn't change at the slightest, he merely pointed at Blood Falcon, "The second-in-command of Dark Million just declared that he planned on flooding Mute City in a sea of fire, and you're still concerned about Lieutenant Seppuku?"

Jody raised her finger up to respond, but the announcer turned on the speakers, "The Man of Mystery, back from the dead, Lieutenant Seppuku!"

Jody and Blood Falcon both growled intensely, Jody's growl was almost like that of an animal. Captain Falcon didn't seem to regard this introduction as anything of great significance. The _Red Dove_ quickly came towards the starting line, but of course, Seppuku didn't stop where he was supposed to; he parked next to the _White Cat_ instead.

Blood Falcon clenched his fists and barred his teeth. Much like Dark Rose's relationship with Chiya, Blood Falcon was created to despise Captain Falcon; but he was beginning to hate Seppuku just as much. Jody walked away from the two racers; she was moving towards Seppuku with a very strict posture, Seppuku did so as well. Both rivals found themselves anxious to confront each other after a hard year of tension. The man who was supposed to be dead was approaching her, and the initial reunion was going to be very heavy.

The two finally met up, and neither of them glanced away from the other for a single moment. Seppuku started the reunion off by tipping his fedora to her. Jody responded by gritting her teeth angrily.

"How did you survive..?" she muttered in disbelief.

Seppuku smirked, "It's your own fault. I warned you to chain up my coffin," he face palmed and began to laugh, "But who am I kidding, that wouldn't have stopped me from breaking free…"

"Seppuku, enough. You're supposed to be dead, you _were_ dead."

"No, I wasn't."

"Then the machine we used to kill you was faulty!"

"No, it wasn't."

She clenched her fists and growled profoundly, "You stood before the court of the Federation and accepted that you were found guilty-"

"It was a rigged court, I know it was…"

She narrowed her eyes at him, "So, if you're not secretly working with Chiya and Earl…" she snapped her fingers and poked him, "How is your master doing?"

Seppuku shook negatively, "Get your head out of your ass, I've been avoiding you this entire time!"

"Because you're trying to contact Black Shadow!"

"Listen you ungrateful bat…" he cracked his knuckles, "It doesn't matter how you view things. You have no justification to execute me, you could try and throw me in prison, but anything more than that is far out of line!"

"You know that this has nothing to do with the barbaric acts of tyranny you've caused over the years. If you're alive, nothing is stopping Black Shadow from-"

"I am not working with Dark Million! You stupid-"

"Returning racer from Mysteria, Chiya Flower!"

Jody and Seppuku both turned with raised eyebrows as the _Purring Kitten_ rushed to the starting line. The very first thing Seppuku noticed was that she was going too fast, just like the first race of the previous Grand Prix. He gritted his teeth and held his hand out.

"Come on, don't, don't, don't..!"

But alas, just like the previous year, Chiya accidentally ran into the rear of the _Red Dove_. Jody smirked and chuckled somewhat, Seppuku face palmed and growled intensely. The crowd had begun to laugh at the replicated mistake.

"Sorry!" she shouted while running towards them.

Jody's laughter had quickly reverted to doubt and anger, Chiya didn't seem to fear the fact that she was running towards Seppuku, which was very suspicious. Chiya began to pant as she came to a stop, she held her finger up and exhaled loudly.

"You two need to try and make up…" she said exhausted.

Jody narrowed her eyes at Chiya, "How very suspicious-" Seppuku quickly grabbed Chiya by the throat, Jody widened her eyes and gasped, "Whoa, wait a minute!"

Chiya gasped loudly and looked down at Seppuku as he strangled her, he had a furious look on his face. Committee snipers had immediately taken aim at Seppuku, prepared to fire at him on command.

Seppuku growled into Chiya's face, "You betrayed me, you fat marshmallow!"

Chiya grunted as she began to choke somewhat, "I- I'm not fat-"

Jody grasped Seppuku's arm, "Let go of her, you freak!"

He smirked while looking into Chiya's eyes, he very briefly winker at her, "As you wish…"

He threw Chiya across the track very roughly, she slid for another three meters after hitting the ground. She immediately rubbed on her burnt arm and bit her lip tightly.

"…you're overdoing it, Seppuku…" she muttered to herself.

The crowd was beyond surprised by what had just occurred, Seppuku crossed his arms and chuckled, "Stupid girl…"

The crowd was convinced, the committee was convinced, and at long last, even Jody was convinced. The general assumption was that Seppuku truly wanted Chiya dead, and this harsh act was proof enough to her that Seppuku was indeed still hunting Chiya.

She pointed at Seppuku with an intense glare, "Seppuku! You womanizing bastard! Chiya had nothing to do with your arrest! This is between you and me…"

"How about this. I'll forgive Flower and call off this manhunt, only if you drop this deranged bounty on me," he slipped his fingers under her chin and smirked, "You and I, believe it or not, still have a common goal…" he pointed at Blood Falcon, who was still speaking with Captain Falcon.

Jody glanced over at Blood Falcon for a few moments, but her hostile expression quickly returned to Seppuku, "…you must be mad to think I'd align myself with you again…"

Chiya had re-approached the two a few seconds later, Jody glanced at her for a second and shook negatively, "I'll gladly recruit Chiya into the Federation. We could use her!"

Seppuku raised an eyebrow and looked down at Chiya, she appeared ultimately disinterested by the offer, "I just want to live alone with Earl."

"Don't be ridiculous, Jody. If you hired Flower and Bendek, I'd know right where to look for them," he held his hand out towards her and grinned, "But I'm offering something that can benefit both of us. Just let go of this childish tension, and I'll let go of this tension with Chiya. We all win!"

Chiya widened her eyes and looked up at Jody, feeling that this offer was completely acceptable. To her surprise, Jody shook negatively at the offer.

"If there's one thing I know about you, Lieutenant, is that you love to play me…"

"True."

"If I did that, you'd collect all the information you need while secretly relaying that information to Black Shadow."

Seppuku face palmed, "You really think that I'm with Black Shadow, eh?"

"You hate the human race, I know you do…"

Seppuku remained silent for several moments, he knew that he could simply call over Blood Falcon and confirm that Seppuku wasn't in line with Dark Million, but Jody was simply impossible to negotiate with.

Jody waited for a response, but momentarily looked down at Chiya and smiled, "Oh, Chiya. Did those suggestions I gave you help at all?"

Chiya widened her eyes, "S- suggestions?"

"The suggestions I gave you over the phone?"

Seppuku fought a smirk on his face, Chiya quickly snapped her fingers and dipped her head down, "Oh, yeah! Those suggestions, yes, they were helpful. I'll be sure to try the other suggestion or two…"

"But really, you're going to let this petty rivalry between us come between the actual threat to the universe?" he pointed at Blood Falcon, "I mean, look at him, he looks like some character a German fanboy would make!"

"After I put you down, I plan on working with Captain Falcon to remove Dark Million. We still have a long road ahead of us, but you're nothing but a roadblock, I assure you," she grasped Chiya's hand and poked Seppuku's cheek, "Me, Chiya, and the rest of the Federation are gonna' take you down!"

Seppuku growled softly, he turned his head and raised an eyebrow at the sight of an unfamiliar yellow machine. The words _Spark Moon_ were labeled across the body. He patted Chiya's back and nodded to himself.

"Flower, run off and pester someone else, perhaps the Sand Witch."

Chiya puckered her lips and spun around, Princia was indeed at the starting line. She lowered her eyebrows and nodded, she began to walk off, but Seppuku grabbed her shoulder.

"Oh, and Flower…" she turned towards him, Seppuku cracked his knuckles, "Watch yourself. Whenever I'm not dealing with this idiot, I'll be focusing on you…"

Chiya nodded slowly and continued towards the _Spark Moon_. She raised an eyebrow and nodded approvingly as she walked. _Seppuku sure knows how to play a part…_

She continued towards the _Spark Moon_ both with confidence and fear. She easily understood that Chiya was carrying all of Mysteria over her shoulder, and Princia was without a doubt the most hated figure in the eyes of the Mysterian people. Chiya was hoping to become friends with Princia, but she would go with a simple non-aggression pact if offered. The long term goal was to bring about happy relations with Princia, as this would make Chiya the first Mysterian to ever meet the Magican princess on good terms. Not even the original queen of Mysteria had ever stepped forth on Magica.

Chiya cleared her throat after reaching the machine, she gently knocked on the window with a smile. Princia swished her long hair aside and looked down at Chiya, she smirked immediately after seeing who it was. Without further ado, Princia opened her cockpit and exited. She landed on her feet and chuckled with her arms crossed.

"These introductions are taking longer than usual, hm?"

Chiya nodded with a smile, "I know, right?"

It was only fitting that Princia was representing Mysteria's rival planet-because Princia was 25 years old as well. This was both Chiya and Earl's birthday, so Chiya had just become 25.

"Nice to see you in your true attire this time, Chiya…"

Chiya responded by dipping her head down in embarrassment, "That pink dress made me look kinda' plump…"

"Well, you look great."

Chiya clapped her hands together with a smile. _This is already going pretty good..!_ Chiya bowed while smiling, "You have a nice machine!"

Princia chuckled, "Yes, I know. You'll find that Magican machine parts are far superior to the usual brands…"

"I know! Seppuku was telling me all about it."

Princia nodded with a strict smirk, "Yes, that's right. Seppuku stole our blueprints…"

The two proceeded to stare at each other for a few moments, Chiya didn't seem prepared to respond to this. Princia crossed her arms and raised her heart-shaped goggles while chuckling.

"This should be interesting, I'm practically racing against Mysterian royalty. It'll be interesting to see which planet can race better."

Chiya puckered her lips, "Well, actually, I was thinking we could-"

"From what I've heard, you are quite the celebrity on that communist wasteland."

Chiya briefly glared at her, but she quickly closed her eyes with a smile, "I- it's a _socialist_ planet, not communist…"

Princia chuckled, "Dear, a planet that waged unjustified war on us and threatened to destroy our people with weapons of mass destruction, is _not_ a socialist planet; that would be a communist planet."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and shook negatively, "Okay, well, I don't even know what a communist is, so…" she exhaled with lowered eyebrows and pointed at her, "Princia, I think you and I should be friends on the track."

Princia's eyes widened with an immense smile of shock, "Oh?"

"Me and my manager believe that this would improve relations between our planets."

"How so?"

Chiya rolled her eyes and sighed, "Well, let's see…"

Seppuku's chat with Jody had continued on, both making little progress patching things up. The surprising part was that Seppuku was the one trying to patch things up for once, while Jody was the one being uncooperative. Things were about to get much more interesting however, as one of the new racers began to approach the two.

Jody and Seppuku both turned towards the approaching person, Seppuku smirked and crossed his arms. Jody sneered and crossed her arms as well.

"Seppuku, man, what's happening?" asked Lily.

Seppuku gave her a very strong high-five, "Oh, just been getting by with this deranged bat trying to kill me."

Jody shook negatively, "Don't listen to him, Lily; he's just trying to turn everybody against me!"

"Idiot, I've proposed a truce between us a million times now."

Lily leaned against Seppuku and shook negatively at Jody, "Hey, if he says he aint' bad, he aint' bad."

"Lily!"

Seppuku wrapped his arm around Lily, "Good, good…"

Jody cleared her throat with a quivering fake smile, "S- surely, you wouldn't do anything as stupid as allying with Seppuku, Lily; the Federation would probably fire you…"

Lily laughed obnoxiously loud, both Seppuku and Jody resorted to covering their ears, "Fire me!?" she continued to laugh loudly, "Where would I go?"

Seppuku pulled Lily more tightly to his side, "You could par up with me and fight Dark Million by my side!"

Lily smirked, "Sounds like a-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jody panicked, "It's a trick! He's just going to bring you to Black Shadow's ship and have you cloned or something."

Seppuku chuckled, "Hear that, Lily? That's the typical response of the corrupt police force; I'm trying to save the universe, and she wants to save…" he laughed and flailed his hand towards Jody, "Well, actually, believe it or not; but she's indirectly helping Black Shadow."

"Not true!"

Lily backed away from Jody and hissed, "Hey, that does sound pretty evil. Chilling with Seppuku until I'm all grown up sounds pretty good!"

Jody clapped her hands together, "This is ridiculous! Just look at the evidence, Seppuku is clearly some kind of monster, he's probably been working with Dark Million this entire time!"

Seppuku chuckled and shook negatively, "Lily, just stay neutral. Jody's talking nonsense, but I don't want you getting killed by her on the track…"

Lily slid by Jody and laughed, "No offense, but I don't think Jodester could pull that off."

Jody put her arm around Lily, "Right, because I would never attack a friendly…"

Seppuku face palmed, "The foul stench of hypocrisy is immense right now…"

"- by doing this, perhaps we can open up the starports to Magicans and Mysterians."

Princia nodded while humming, "That _could_ work, but all of this just from allying with you on the track?"

Chiya nodded with a smile, "Yes! Any Mysterian and Magican working together would be news worthy. The Magican princess and top Mysterian celebrity working together would change everything!"

Princia remained still to think about this proposal, "You're right, I _could_ do that…" Chiya smiled, "…or, I could beat you in the Grand Prix, and bring about massive prestige amongst my government, while defiling yours!"

Chiya gasped and momentarily glared, "What!?"

"Yeah, yeah, me beating you would prove that a Mysterian doesn't stand a chance against a Magican on the track. My government would be praised for the victory, while your little play-thing of a government…" she chuckled and shrugged, "Would probably suffer a military coup and fall…"

Chiya grasped Princia's shoulders tightly, "Y- you can't be serious!"

Princia glared and pushed Chiya off of her, "Get off of me! Mysterian pig!"

Chiya grunted loudly with a mighty glare, her eyes were locked into Princia's very strictly. Diplomacy had just gone out the door.

"Who are you calling a pig? You dead tree!"

"Yes, I am quite tall…" she immediately snapped back.

Chiya was grinding her teeth furiously, "I practice racing all the time! What makes you think that you can just come onto my track and push me around?"

Princia nodded, "You may be a skill driver, but my machine was equipped with parts just as good as the _Blue Falcon_. I don't really need too much skill."

Chiya stomped her foot down, "Well, not only will I beat you, but I'm going to beat your machine, beat it up!"

Princia chuckled, "Is this a declaration of war, Mysterian pig?"

Chiya resisted the urge to strangle Princia, instead, she spun around and walked back to her own machine. Princia's smirk disappeared as she watched Chiya walk away. Princia pointed at Chiya and momentarily grinned again.

"There goes the evil Mysterian Empire declaring war upon me yet again! When will it end!?" she shouted mockingly.

The racers had all entered their machines minutes later. Jody and Seppuku were exchanging hostile glances from their machines. Chiya looked back at the _Spark Moon_ and narrowed her eyes, she adjusted her headset and grasped the steering wheel tightly. Captain Falcon and Blood Falcon both stared each other down, two blood brothers who both desired to kill the other.

Chiya widened her eyes as the starting signal hovered down, it displayed the number 3. It had only took a pre-race discussion between Jody and Princia, but one thing was clear to just about everyone.

This was going to be a very explosive Grand Prix…

To be continued…


	21. Lap 20

==Lap 20=

The sun was shining, the ocean was gentle, and the fans were out of control. Big Blue was moments away from kicking off the first race of the annual Grand Prix, despite being a racer, Chiya was amongst some of these excited F-Zero fans. Unfortunately for her, F-Zero diplomacy had ultimately failed. Jody was being non-negotiable with Seppuku, and Princia provoked Chiya into waging war. Along with these two things, she had to deal with Blood Falcon, who now had enhanced the _Blood Hawk_ into the _Hell Hawk_. Goroh and Guster were aligned with her, but she was secretly disregarding their alliance to make things easier for her, only this wouldn't. She had to ensure that no one learned about this pirate alliance, otherwise she risked losing Captain Falcon as an ally, along with many of her fans. She could also kiss her chances of becoming _model racer_ away-a title given to the best role model racer. Captain Falcon was the current holder of the title.

Chiya found herself staring at the hovering signal, the number 3 was brightly lit up. A shock went through her body as the classic tune of Big Blue began to play in the speakers; Chiya personally loved the Big Blue theme, but this was her first time racing with music, and she feared that it would ultimately be a distraction to her.

"Racers, at this time you may start your engines!"

Earl observed Chiya closely from the private booth, he had a fairly nervous look on his face, "Good luck, and I never got to tell you…" he smiled and brought his hands down to his waist, "Happy twenty-fifth birthday."

Chiya put her finger over the accelerator button as she waited for the signal to take off, she smiled and lowered her eyebrows, "-and happy thirtieth birthday to you, old man."

"Hey, thirty isn't that old…"

She chuckled, "I know, only five years older than me. That's not too bad…"

Chiya's eyes widened upon looking back up at the starting line, the race was about to begin at long last. Chiya took one final breath, then exhaled slowly. She narrowed her eyes and licked her lips.

"I'm ready…"

The monitor flashed for a second, the time was here…

Three. Two. One. Go!

Chiya was instant on the accelerator, arguably, she was the first one to take off. She had initially made her way to fourth place, whether she was the first or not to hit the accelerator, she had gotten an unusually good start.

"Good start, Chiya!"

The _Purring Kitten_ immediately found itself in a good position, the _Hell Hawk_ was leading the pack in first, the _Blue Falcon_ in second, and right in front of her was the _Red Gazelle_. With only Princia and Blood Falcon aiming for her, Chiya felt obliged to help Captain Falcon this year if he were in danger. Despite that she was racing, this was one of the first things she had on her mind; improving her relations with Captain Falcon.

The _Red Dove_ and _White Cat_ were immediately clashing machines as they drove down the very scenic track of Big Blue. It was a rivalry that was practically destined to go hot; Seppuku had saved Jody from her burning machine two years ago, now the two were trying to kill each other. Regardless of his person, however, Seppuku wasn't actually trying to kill Jody-just retire her from the race.

Seppuku growled loudly and slammed into the _White Cat_ roughly, a large smile was forced onto his face after doing this. He groaned in pleasure and bit his lip, "O- oh God! That felt, _so_, good!"

Jody did a spin attack, which brushed him off of her instantly. Since Seppuku was pressed up against her, the spin attack merely shaved his machine. The two had already been passed by several racers as they fought. Surprisingly, no Federation members were jumping in to help her, but she could hardly care at this point.

Chiya softly rammed into the rear of the _Red Gazelle_, she was tapping her fingers down on the dashboard impatiently as she tried to maneuver the cyborg. Captain Falcon and Blood Falcon were neck-and-neck for first, Chiya was still in fourth. The _Golden Boar_ was driving closely behind Jody and Seppuku. The racers had just entered a long pipe-like part of the track that took them under water.

Chiya gasped as she gazed upon the aquatic life of Big Blue; there were fish and interesting plant life all around her. The tube was made out of a very durable type of glass, not even an explosion could puncture it.

"Earl, this is the most beautiful scene ever!"

Earl was watching the race from a large screen that hung over the track, he could see the drastic change in environment for himself, "That does look pretty nice."

The _Blue Falcon_ and _Hell Hawk_ had finally clashed together in an attempt to push another racer towards the safety railing, but this was only slowing them down. The _Red Gazelle_ had assumed first, while Chiya trailed him by merely half a second. The _Golden Boar_ had passed Jody and Seppuku and was now in third.

The _Spark Moon_ was quickly gaining speed as everyone drove down the tube, her machine seemed to be gaining on just about every racer that was in front of her. She smirked and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Jody and Seppuku fighting. Princia certainly didn't intend on centering her full attention on Chiya, she had reason to hate both Seppuku and Jody as well.

Seppuku side attacked Jody, but he had ultimately failed to deliver a strong enough blow to her machine. Jody prepared to counter-attack, but Seppuku had hit a boost pad just in time. The _Red Dove_, along with many other machines had boosted a bit ahead. As if there wasn't enough frustration on Jody's plate, Princia had momentarily ran up to her side and did a spin attack. The _White Cat _was forced against the safety railing fairly roughly, but not severely.

Chiya and Mighty Gazelle were coming up on the very sharp turn that Chiya had issues with in the video game. She lowered her eyebrows and prepared to tackle this obstacle confidently. The _Red Gazelle_ did a powerslide quickly, repositioning his machine completely; Chiya did the same. The two machines swiftly did their powerslides and continued down the tube, the other racers followed them closely.

The _Red Dove_ was coming up on Chiya, the _Spark Moon_ and _Golden Boar_ was behind him. Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously as she stared at the cockpit of the _Red Dove_. _Would Seppuku attack me to make this more convincing..?_ She considered this nervously, but decided that the best course of action to take was to pretend that he indeed was trying to kill her. She would take careful measures to avoid him.

The _Spark Moon_ momentarily bumped into the rear of the _Red Dove_. Seppuku grunted and looked back; he growled loudly and shook negatively.

"Don't make a girl who obsesses over kittens an F-Zero diplomat…"

Chiya gritted her teeth as she watched her friend get pushed around by Princia, she wanted to help, but was unsure if this would look suspicious to Jody. She looked forward and glared at the _Red Gazelle_.

"Why is it that I always have a problem with you!?"

Suddenly, the _Hell Hawk_ had rushed around the corner and joined in on the struggle against Seppuku. Captain Falcon was nowhere to be found. Chiya gritted her teeth and growled loudly.

"Earl! Where's Captain Falcon?"

"Blood Falcon prevented him from doing the powerslide at that one turn. He fell back a few racers."

"Bloody Hell…"

"I say fall back and help him."

Chiya looked up at the _Red Gazelle_ and narrowed her eyes, "But then I'll fall really far behind!"

"If you get second place, you get second place; that would only shave about five points off of your overall in the end."

Chiya thought about this for a few moments, falling back meant that she would be faced with both Princia and Blood Falcon; Blood Falcon being the toughest. Ultimately, Chiya decided that this wasn't suspicious in the slightest on the account that both Princia and Blood Falcon were enemies. She decided to give Mighty Gazelle an easy run, for now, and slowed down.

The _Hell Hawk_ was just about on Seppuku's rear, while the _Spark Moon_ was almost perfectly to his side. She was ultimately trying to catch Chiya, but she considered Seppuku an enemy as well.

Chiya surprised Princia by coming to a brief stop right in front of her, forcing her to run into the _Purring Kitten_. She had immediately picked up speed and was now on Blood Falcon's side. Seppuku looked back at Chiya and smirked.

"Chiya, be careful, both Princia and Blood Falcon are in good positions to attack," said Earl.

Fortunately, Seppuku returned the favor and slowed down, bringing the three together. Princia was riding Chiya from behind, but was unable to get on her side due to the wall of racers. Seppuku struck the _Hell Hawk_ to the right, this left a gap open between Chiya and Seppuku. Princia clearly intended on slipping through this gap, but she wasn't going fast enough. In response to Princia's advancement, Chiya performed a spin attack that whipped the _Spark Moon_ back into the _Golden Boar_. James McCloud passed both of these racers and proceeded to fifth.

The racers had finally come out of the tube and were now racing in beautiful sunshine once more. Seppuku was for the most part succeeding in keeping Blood Falcon pinned, the _Hell Hawk_ was about a meter away from hitting the safety rail—but he wouldn't back down. The racers did a series of twists as they went up the track; a boost pad was just up ahead that would take them off of an edge. A short distance off the edge was another tube that would take them under water.

Chiya switched open her airbrake button and repositioned herself in preparation for the boost pad. Seppuku was going to take a pass on the boost pad and keep Blood Falcon pinned—undoubtedly this would put the two racers back quite a bit.

The _White Cat_ was behind the _Little Wyvern_, James McCloud was the one who fired the bomb at Black Shadow's ship during the Battle of Green Plant—but she had no room for heroes in her heart. She rammed into James and bounced off of his machine. Chiya hit the boost pad and went soaring off the edge, Seppuku and Blood Falcon simply leapt off the edge and landed roughly. Chiya glided far up ahead going nearly 2,000 km/h. She had gotten Princia off of Seppuku, so she was going to trust that he could fend off against Blood Falcon on his own while she tried to catch the _Red Gazelle_.

"Blimey, I don't even see Gazelle!"

Earl took a few moments to look at some statistics, "Monitor says that Gazelle is about four seconds ahead of you."

A gasp broke out of Chiya's mouth, "What!?"

"Not sure, he must be well prepared for this race."

Chiya grinded her teeth while grunting softly. Finishing the race in second place wouldn't be bad, but she mostly feared that Gazelle's initial success on the track was a warning sign that he would once again be a major threat.

"How close am I to the checkpoint?"

"A few more turns and you'll be coming up on double-sided restoration pads and three boost pads. Obviously, take the boost pads over the energy for your first lap."

"Aye'."

Chiya continued to race down the tubular track, to her surprise, she was also already far ahead of everyone else. Gazelle was now only about two seconds ahead of her, but she was two seconds ahead of Seppuku and Blood Falcon. Despite not currently being in first, the boost of morale was surging within Chiya's blood.

She made one final turn and now drove in-between the restoration pads, she went through three boost pads and immediately flew off another edge. She swiftly soared through the air and landed just short of the checkpoint.

Blood Falcon had quickly dashed into the restoration pad to regain what energy Seppuku had taken from him, Seppuku took the boost pads and temporarily secured third place. Jody had also gone into the restoration pads briefly. Jody, James McCloud, Dr. Stewart, and Princia Ramode were all closely behind Blood Falcon. Despite being completely surrounded by hostile racers, Blood Falcon continued to race with a confident smirk.

Chiya was now authorized to use boost power as she crossed into her second lap, she didn't hesitate to exert energy. The _Purring Kitten_ and _Red Gazelle_ were clearly going to be the rivaling racers for the second lap. Both were boosting several times, but unfortunately, the _Red Gazelle_ had a far superior booster. Despite this inconvenience, Chiya was still gaining on him.

The _Red Gazelle_ was moving down the track with pitch-perfect accuracy, but even Gazelle found himself frantic upon spotting the _Purring Kitten_ behind him. Unless some mistake was made, it seemed that neither of the two would end up behind any of the other racers. The reason behind this was fairly obvious, however; many of the racers were trying to engage in combat, while Chiya and Gazelle desired to race.

Blood Falcon was laughing as he drove. The most idiotic sight he had ever seen was occurring _literally_ around him. The _White Cat_ and _Red Dove_ were fighting each other around the _Hell Hawk_—as if the true villain wasn't present. The _Spark Moon_ had boosted into third place, but no one seemed to care. Blood Falcon was overcome with joy to see those who should be working together to fight a common enemy, trying to destroy each other.

Blood Falcon shook negatively as the _White Cat _drove into the _Red Dove_ harshly, "Personally, my bet's on Seppuku, that bat doesn't-"

He grunted loudly as the _Hell Hawk_ was rammed into from two sides, he looked both ways and found that the _Blue Falcon_ and _Golden Boar_ were striking him from separate sides. He hummed loudly with an intense grin and put his finger on the spin attack switch.

"Die!" he shouted excitedly.

Everyone except for Seppuku gasped, the _Hell Hawk_ had begun to do some type of advanced spin attack. A wave of energy had blown his opponents away temporarily.

"What did we just see here!?" the announcer shouted in disbelief, "It appears, that Blood Falcon has installed some type of modification into his combat module!"

Earl grunted loudly and grasped his headset, "Chiya, be careful, Blood Falcon modified his machine with some kind of power that can blow you away!"

Chiya gasped, "T- that's not fair! The committee doesn't allow non-street legal modifications!"

"It looks like the committee is going to allow it!" the announcer shouted excitedly.

Chiya lowered her eyelids and sighed loudly.

The _Spark Moon_ was now visible to Chiya's rear, the _Red Gazelle_ was still a fair distance ahead of Chiya. What was clear to just about everyone at this point was that both Chiya and Gazelle had a clear understanding of the track. Many of the other racers were accidentally scraping the safety railing or making some other minor mistake that would put them back. Chiya had already practically forgotten about the Jody-Seppuku ordeal, all that seemed to matter was that she won the first race of the Grand Prix.

The _Purring Kitten_ boosted forward a few times, a restoration pad was coming up-Mighty Gazelle seemed to have forgotten about this, so he conserved his energy. Both Chiya and Princia came flying towards the _Red Gazelle_ at top speed, Gazelle had now realized that something was wrong on the account that the two were boosting so much. After a few seconds, he boosted as well, having realized that a restoration pad was around the curve. He was too late though, Chiya and Princia were now mere meters away from him.

Jody pulled away from Seppuku and narrowed her eyes as she glared intensely at the blood red machine. The _Hell Hawk_ was a bit ahead of the racers, but Jody had a mission she was determined to complete. She found that she was in a good position to perform a side attack on Seppuku, all she had to worry about was whether he would do the same-which would result in a very uncomfortable clash.

She forced the wheel to her left and barred her teeth as she slid towards Seppuku quickly. Just before she could perform the side attack, Captain Falcon had slipped in-between the two racers. Jody gasped and threw her finger off the attack button.

"Dammit, Falcon, get out of my way!" she shouted aloud.

Seppuku took up the opportunity and boosted away from the two, he quickly drove up to the _Hell Hawk_ and prepared to strike. Jody tried to maneuver around the _Blue Falcon_, but he was blocking her path. This was frustrating Jody greatly, but she knew that actually attacking Captain Falcon was out of the question. She growled loudly and grasped her forehead.

"Oh my God! This is idiotic!"

The racers had entered the tubular part of the track once more, Chiya and Princia were at long last attacking each other. Chiya had an adrenaline rush through her body ever since she had woken up, this was helping her anticipate Princia's every move. Princia side attacked, but Chiya boosted as she did this. Princia mimicked her by boosting as well, the _Hell Hawk_ and _Red Dove_ were finally gaining on the three racers. Chiya, Princia, and Gazelle all came across the sharp turn, only Gazelle was truly prepared for this. He did a long powerslide, but Chiya's was ultimately faster. Princia also performed a good powerslide, but she couldn't pass Gazelle on time. Chiya was now leading the racers in first.

Seppuku and Blood Falcon did their powerslides, but Seppuku had intentionally rammed into him at the last second, thus letting the _Blue Falcon_, _Little Wyvern_, _White Cat_, and _Golden Boar_ pass them. Samurai Goroh was now behind Seppuku and Blood Falcon.

The _White Cat_ quickly slowed down and fell back with the _Red Dove_ and _Hell Hawk_. Seppuku grinded his teeth and growled furiously.

"Holy Hell, just calm down already!"

Jody was unmerciful, however, she did go for both Seppuku and Blood Falcon this time by doing a spin attack. Seppuku grunted as the front blades of the _White Cat_ left a long tear across the front of the _Red Dove_'s body, revealing what appeared to be yellow paint. Blood Falcon had merely been pushed back by this attack, as his machine was clearly much more durable. Captain Falcon hit the brakes, deciding that he would join in on the fight. The _Blue Falcon_ crashed into the _White Cat_, then proceeded to do a spin attack on the _Hell Hawk_, sending the racers back even more. The _Fire Stingray_ had passed each racer with ease.

Chiya grinded her teeth and growled softly as she looked back at the _Spark Moon_, "This woman just doesn't know when to quit!"

Earl chuckled, "Kick her ass if you feel like it. To Hell with diplomacy."

Chiya smirked, "I'm doing good, I don't wanna' risk the win by getting my machine retired."

First place was firmly being held by Chiya as Mighty Gazelle was blocking Princia's every move. It seemed that she was in a great position to retain the lead until the end, but then Gazelle did something that not many racers would do-but in all actuality he was being very cunning. He moved aside for Princia.

"H- hey, what's he doing!?"

The _Spark Moon_ drove towards the _Purring Kitten_ quickly, "I'm not sure, just hold your position!"

Neither Chiya nor Earl understood what Gazelle's motive for doing this was; he moved aside to let them fight, as this would inevitably slow both racers down and bring him back to first.

Chiya gritted her teeth and looked up, she was exiting the tube and would be making the jump in a few moments, "Whatever, I still have an entire lap to shake this warmonger…"

Princia boosted forward and slammed into Chiya, but distance between the two racers were too close to have an effect. Chiya narrowed her eyes at Princia and gritted her teeth, Mighty Gazelle passed them seconds later. At last, the _Red Dove_ and _Hell Hawk_ were coming up from behind the two racers. Captain Falcon was gaining on those two, while Jody trailed him.

Earl was rubbing his chin as the high speed war went on, a report on the screen had suddenly been displayed in the corner. He raised an eyebrow and hummed with heavy intrigue.

"Chiya, the F-Zero committee just discovered something about Blood Falcon's new spin attack."

Chiya was constantly swerving around Princia, constantly attacking and defending in the same pattern, "O- oh, do tell..!"

"They detected that the spin attack Blood Falcon did, used up a portion of his machine's energy."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows in confusion, but she hadn't actually gotten the chance to see this special spin attack. She shrugged and looked up with a quirked mouth, the boost pad and edge was coming up quickly. Her energy meter was in the yellow, but she was determined to shake Princia and perhaps catch Mighty Gazelle.

She boosted away from Princia and aimed for the boost pad; she ran over this as well and went flying off the edge towards the second tubular area. Princia's energy was lower than Chiya's, so she merely used the boost pad and glided down.

Samurai Goroh had finally boosted far enough to catch Princia, he grasped his wheel tightly and growled at the sight of the _Purring Kitten._ He felt that Chiya wasn't being the ally he wanted, having expected that she would fall back and help Goroh and Guster keep a lead alongside her. Guster was very far back, but Goroh found himself in fourth.

Seppuku had finally gotten a lucky smash on the _Hell Hawk_—forcing the machine against the safety railing for several meters. Blood Falcon had finally submitted and hit his brakes, allowing for Seppuku to once again race. He was in fifth place and was just a bit away from Goroh, Jody was still trying to reach Seppuku, but Captain Falcon was imprisoning her on the track.

Seppuku boosted forward, the _Fire Stingray_ was quickly coming within his reach. Goroh looked back at the approaching machine and grunted, "Huh!?"

He boosted once more simply to avoid the attack Seppuku would inevitably bring. Surprisingly, Seppuku boosted yet again, despite his energy level. The two racers immediately came up by Princia, who was only a bit behind Chiya.

Chiya ran through one of the restoration pads for a few moments, then moved to the center quickly—she was able to get through two boost pads before making the jump off the edge. Her machine soared quickly through the air; she initiated the airbrakes and softly landed under the checkpoint, now entering her final lap. The two boost pads had helped her catch up to Gazelle, who was only able to hit one boost pad. She looked back and grunted at the sight of Goroh and Seppuku now right behind them, they had easily passed Princia.

Goroh glanced up ahead at Chiya and growled, "Come on, any day now!" he shouted angrily.

Goroh was expecting that Chiya would fall back and aid her ally, especially since she claims that Seppuku was hunting her. He became angrier by the second, confused as to why Chiya was still racing independently. His confusion had momentarily turned into distraction, as he now found himself driving in a straight line. Seppuku smirked and savored this opportunity by moving to the far right.

Chiya continued to race, but she looked back and gasped at the sight of Seppuku locking his machine to the side, "S- Seppuku, wait!" she shouted aloud.

Seppuku took one mighty swing at the _Fire Stingray_, instantly sending the machine off the track and into the water. His machine plunged deep into the water, but momentarily came back up and began to float.

"Samurai Goroh has been retired from this race by Lieutenant Seppuku!" shouted the announcer.

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and hummed nervously, "That's…" she swallowed and sighed, "Goroh might want to kill me when we get home…"

Seppuku momentarily boosted forward, now desiring to pass Chiya. She gasped and boosted as well, Princia remained in the back of the three leading racers, determined to attack both Chiya and Seppuku.

Jody finally had enough of Captain Falcon's containment and had boosted into the _Blue Falcon_, this sent Captain Falcon swerving as she simply made her way up the track again. She knew that Seppuku was near Chiya, so she was desperate to get up the track and save her.

Chiya wasn't underestimating Seppuku, she wouldn't be surprised if he would actually try and attack her for the sake of making the fake rivalry look real—so she was treating the situation like a real rivalry. She had just as much of a concern being anywhere near Seppuku as she did with Princia. Chiya boosted again, but this time she had a feeling that she'd come in contact with the _Red Gazelle_, and she was right. She had finally bumped into the _Red Gazelle_ while trying to evade Seppuku, with less than a lap to go, she had to keep Gazelle from retaining the lead any further.

Seppuku prepared to boost towards the two racers, but Jody and Captain Falcon had both simultaneously reached his machine. He growled immensely at the _White Cat_ and boosted away from her.

The racers had filled up on a restoration pad and all began to boost towards the first tubular part of the track. Chiya was giving Gazelle a fairly hard challenge as she fought for first; fortunately, Gazelle didn't appear hostile to her. She boosted past him with a smirk and quickly got in front of him to block his path. Gazelle boosted forward, but Chiya had gotten lucky and blocked his path—which merely wasted a portion of his energy.

"Way to go, Chiya! Just keep blocking his path, he can't boost forever!"

Chiya nodded and studied the machine carefully. She was assuming that he would boost ahead of her at some point, but if she were lucky and continued to block his boosts, he wouldn't have enough at the end to catch her.

The two came up on the sharp turn, Chiya widened her eyes and snapped her fingers, realizing that Gazelle would use this to his advantage and boost ahead of her. But she was one step ahead of him.

Chiya boosted early and performed a very sharp turn; her speed had hardly reduced at the slightest. Gazelle hadn't planned for this, and ended up boosting as well; only he boosted at a bad time. Instead of making the sharp turn, he ran into the safety railing before getting back on track. This reduced his speed down to about 500 km/h for a second—enough to put him in a difficult position. Captain Falcon, Jody, and Seppuku had passed Gazelle; Princia was close behind the cyborg.

Chiya was now both in first and far ahead of the other racers. Chiya's fingers were tightly wrapped around the wheel as she now had the easiest part of the race—she needed to keep the lead and simply race.

Seppuku continued to wrestle around with Jody, Captain Falcon was now focusing more on the race on the account that he was now in second place. The two machines were both fairly damaged now; Earl was left utterly shocked by how violent Seppuku could truly get on the track. For some reason, regardless of how much punishment the machines got, both remained strong. One thing was for sure, Earl was going to have his work cut out for him in the garage—and this was only the first of five races.

Seppuku was pushing Jody towards the safety railing slowly; he knew that if he could simply push her into the railing, he could drain her energy simply by dragging her against the metal for about a mile.

Jody attempted a spin attack, but this didn't work since the machines were pushed together. Instead of performing a spin, her machine merely pushed the _Red Dove_ into a strange angle. Seppuku retaliated by attempting a side attack, which practically had the same effect as Jody's attack. Mighty Gazelle and Princia maneuvered around the two conflicting racers and rushed up the track, hoping that they may still catch Chiya.

Chiya boosted up the track with the energy she still had stored. Blocking Mighty Gazelle's boosts also helped her conserve energy, as she didn't have to waste any trying to catch up. She looked back and saw both Princia and Mighty Gazelle approaching her quickly, but not fast enough. Chiya puckered her lips and put her hand down on the speed limiter.

"Time to bring things up a notch!"

She pushed her maximum speed up to maximum, causing her machine to easily go much faster. Both Princia and Gazelle took note of this change in speed and boosted again, but Chiya did so as well. A few moments later, Chiya came darting out of the tube and onto the boost pad by the edge. She went through the boost pad and made the jump; she quickly performed her flight and nearly landed in the next tube perfectly. Princia and Mighty Gazelle had turned up their speed as well, but Chiya simply wouldn't budge. The final spark of hope anyone could have of Chiya falling behind would be if she made a mistake.

Seppuku took in another rough hit by Jody, he grunted as his cockpit began to flash red constantly; he looked down and found that he was nearly depleted of energy. He growled and very quickly side attacked Jody, this nearly snapped one of her front fins off of her machine. She grunted as well, now finding that she too was low on energy—but not as much as Seppuku.

Jody and Seppuku drifted away from each other for safety, both exchanged glances from their cockpits. Seppuku lowered his eyebrows and growled, he could tell by the flashing of her cockpit that Jody couldn't take any more punishment, one more successful strike and she would be retired from the race. Of course, he also risked getting hit himself, which would retire him. Regardless of the built up tension, Seppuku still valued winning the prize money over beating Jody. Both rivals were thinking the same, and a temporary ceasefire had indirectly been established for the remained of the race.

Chiya swerved around a corner with Princia and Mighty Gazelle practically hanging onto the back of her machine. Chiya boosted one more time, causing her cockpit to flash red, but she ran over a restoration pad quickly. Instead of gathering full energy, she drifted into the centered and hit the first two boost pads. She moved into the restoration pad once more for a brief second, then back to the center to hit the final boost pad. It was finished, both Princia and Mighty Gazelle needed to gather more energy if they were to have any shot at winning—but both were only able to reach two boost pads.

Chiya boosted in midair and took a final dive without initiating her airbrakes; she simply took a nosedive down to the finish and crashed at the finish line. She hit her head on the roof of her machine roughly as she did this, but her machine surprisingly hadn't been scratched at the slightest.

Mighty Gazelle and Princia momentarily passed the finish line. The Chiya Flower fans instantly broke out into excitement at her decisive first win. Chiya immediately did a powerslide rather than proceeding to her garage, she opened her cockpit and immediately stood up after whipping her headset down onto her seat.

She fired her hands up into the air and cheered loudly, she was showboating to the F-Zero community wildly.

The overall Grand Prix standings were displayed on the screen: Chiya held first; second, Mighty Gazelle; third, Princia Ramode; fourth, Captain Falcon; fifth, Lieutenant Seppuku; and sixth, Jody Summer.

Chiya continued to dance around in her machine, fans laughed and cheered over her excitement. Thousands of photos were being taken of her jiggling around in her slick racing outfit. Earl was clapping his hands while laughing from his private booth.

The other racers merely passed her and left for their garages, except for one racer. Chiya continued to dance for the fans, but suddenly the _Red Dove_ ran into the _Purring Kitten_ intentionally. Chiya briefly screamed and fell back into her cockpit. A combination of booing and laughter ensued; Seppuku merely drove off the track with a smirk.

Earl and Seppuku later found themselves back aboard Chiya's ship. Chiya remained at the track to sign autographs and answer interviewers, but Seppuku had to leave before Jody had gotten the chance to stalk him out of the track. Fortunately, he had gotten back to the ship before Jody even had the chance to leave her garage. As nice as Big Blue was, the three planned on leaving the planet immediately after Chiya returned from her interviewing. Earl and Seppuku were watching F-Zero TV from the living room of the ship.

The channel was showing a segment of Chiya's interview that had been taken about half an hour ago.

"Ms. Flower, what was the most pressuring part of today's race?"

Chiya raised her eyebrows, "By far the most pressuring part was trying to pass Mighty Gazelle with Princia trying to destroy the Purring Kitten."

"On the topic of rivalry, what do you think the Mysterian and Magican community will think of this win?"

Chiya smirked, "Well, it was Princia who provoked this rivalry. I would hope that I made my people proud, but the Magican people should be proud as well, their leader took third today, and that's a pretty nice accomplishment that not even I can do too easily," she rubbed her hands together and licked her lips, "While I do represent my planet in the Grand Prix, I'm hoping that both governments will see eye-to-eye in the future and cooperate as friends…"

"Fascinating, very mature for a woman of your age."

Earl and Seppuku jolted their heads up in shock as the loading ramp to the ship momentarily began to drop, and the large door began to open. Earl spun around and gritted his teeth nervously, fortunately, it was Chiya. She parked her machine inside and closed the loading ramp and door quickly. Earl and Seppuku walked over to her, she opened her cockpit and immediately leapt down with her arms shot up into the air.

"Whoo!"

Earl smirked, "Whoo!"

"Yea-ah!"

Seppuku crossed his arms, "Yay…"

Chiya proceeded to throw several punches into the air rapidly while jumping, "That was an exhilarating first race! I'm still so full of energy too! Hell, I could do the second race right now!"

Seppuku yawned and nodded, Earl smirked, "You sure look excited, and I'm certainly excited that you won this first race!"

Chiya spun around and kicked rapidly, Earl and Seppuku both grunted loudly, her kicks were abnormally fast. Earl grasped his forehead and lowered his eyebrows, "Oh my…"

Seppuku hummed slowly as she continued to exercise intensely, she began to jiggle around constantly while humming the tune of Big Blue loudly, "I can't wait to get home and start constructing Good Odds—give me a hammer and some nails, and I'll get it done!"

Seppuku slowly nodded at her with a look of intrigue, "That's right; I'm true to my word…"

Earl smirked, "Yep, you gotta' help us."

"Well, I'm not some liar, like Jody; as stupid as it sounds, I'll help turn that once glorious bar into the greatest looking pet shelter ever made."

"Wooho-o!" Chiya shouted with her fists fired up into the air.

Earl and Seppuku had covered their ears as she shouted, Earl was happy for Chiya, but also somewhat disturbed to see her even more excited than usual. She continued to dance around rapidly, her feet were moving very robotically as she danced.

Seppuku lowered his eyebrows at her and quirked his mouth, "Well, Flower, you beat me, Jody, Captain Falcon, Blood Falcon; everyone," he slowly slipped off his right glove and held his hand out with a bland expression, "Congratulations…"

Chiya beamed at his hand and immediately grasped it, "It was a great race, with more great races to come!"

Seppuku squeezed her hand very tightly as he shook, Chiya's smile remained heavy, but her eyelids lowered slightly as they shook. Earl was smiling at the two, happy to see Seppuku giving Chiya well deserved recognition for once.

Chiya momentarily retracted from the grasp and yawned loudly, "Oh, man, that handshake is quite…" she blinked a few times and gritted her teeth, "Pretty energy consuming…"

Seppuku stood tall as he put his glove back on, he nodded at her and chuckled loudly as he cracked his knuckles, "So, the Bat isn't up for negotiations, unfortunately…"

"Don't give up hope; she just needs time to see the light. I'm sure she'll have come to her senses now that you explained your case," she lowered her eyebrows and grunted, "You- you did explain that you're good, right..?"

"Yeah, but she refuses to listen to reason…"

Earl shrugged, "Hey, all we need to do is get your name out there. Do some heroic deeds."

Seppuku gasped, "Good God, Bendek's right!"

Chiya puckered her lips, "He is?"

"I am?"

"If I can convince the public that I'm on their side, and that Jody is trying to kill me, she'll lose whatever support she still has!" he smirked and flexed his fingers, "If we're lucky, she would continue this hunt even after my image is changed, and she'd be fired…"

Chiya grasped her forehead and exhaled loudly, "Where would she go?"

"Probably follow in my footsteps and become a vigilante, like the damn hypocrite she really is!"

The three had later left Big Blue and were now on their way back to the Milky Way. They didn't plan on going to Earth yet, they were going to sleep in space once more and land in the morning. Chiya and Earl sat on the floor with Seppuku with a chocolate cake on the floor. Chiya had her mouth full of frosting; Earl was eating a slice of cake as well. Seppuku had taken a bite of his cake, but ultimately didn't like it.

Chiya looked up at Earl and smiled, "This is the best day ever. First place, it's our birthday, and our two year friendship anniversary."

Seppuku crossed his arms, "Bendek, you're thirty now; you're lucky to have scored with such a young person at that age."

Earl smirked, "She's only five years younger than me.

Chiya nodded while sucking on her fingers, "Yeah, it doesn't bother me that he'll be an old man before me."

"Yeah, well don't worry about him. In about twenty-to-thirty years, you grow wrinkles, your boobs deflate, and your _Port Town_ turns into a nuclear wasteland…"

Chiya glared at him and shook negatively, "I can get implants when-"

"Hey, Chiya, you've got some frosting on your lip."

She slowly lowered her eyelids and smiled romantically, "How about you come and have a taste..?"

Seppuku covered his mouth, resisting the urge to laugh. Earl shook negatively while smiling, "You can just lick it off."

She lowered her eyebrows and nodded; she scooped the frosting off her lip with her tongue and smiled again. Seppuku put his hand down on Earl's shoulder and grinned.

"Throwdown."

Earl widened his eyes and grunted, "Oh, yeah, right…"

"Are you ready for the upcoming matches?"

Chiya slowly looked down at Earl's crotch with a concerned look; Earl moved his hand over his crotch and cleared his throat while looking at Seppuku, "Uh, uh, yeah…"

Throwdown was something that hadn't crossed Earl's mind for nearly a week. Of course, Earl was now very scared that the same thing would happen to him. The pain he had received down below was excruciating and left him temporarily bruised.

"E- Earl doesn't have to-"

"No, no, I'll be there…"

Chiya continued to stare into Earl's eyes nervously, she knew that he was scared, and this would only affect how he fights. If there was any way she could help him, she would find out.

Later that night, Earl was lying in bed while trembling. He could see that his hand was shaking constantly out of fear; he had made a promise to Chiya that he was now ready to put into effect. He gasped silently as Chiya's bed was slammed against his, creating a much larger bed in the ship. He turned his head slowly with an immense quivering smile of fear.

Chiya was in her nightgown and was staring down at him with an intense smile, "I've been so excited for this day…"

"Yeah, me too. Taking things to another level…"

She leaned over her bed while still smiling as she fluffed her pillow, Earl was looking deep into her eyes, but every few seconds he caught himself glancing down at her cleavage. This time he avoided the arousal by turning his head towards the ceiling. He whistled loudly and crossed his arms.

"It seems that every day that goes by, it becomes more and more impossible for us to ever break up."

Finally, Chiya leapt onto her side of the bed and got down on her waist, "But that's a good thing!"

Earl nodded, "I know, I'm very happy."

She continued to smile at him for several moments, but her smile momentarily faded away upon gazing down at his hand. She found that he was trembling, and that his words were very frantic. She brought her feet up to her rear and lowered her eyebrows.

"Oh, w- we don't have to do this, if you don't feel comfortable…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "You would go back to sleeping independently if I wanted?"

Chiya frowned, but nodded, "Yeah…" she rubbed her arm and puckered her lips, "I like sleeping alone with Mauser, sometimes…"

Earl continued to stare into her eyes sadly, but ultimately he toughened up and shook negatively, "No, I do want to merge beds, honest," Chiya smiled again, "It's just, that, I'm a bit…" he lowered his eyelids and bit his lip.

Chiya grabbed his hand and smiled passionately, "I understand what you're saying."

He gasped and dipped his head down, "Yo- you do? Oh God, I'm so sorry-"

She closed her eyes and smiled, "This is a time for sleep, not…" she rubbed her arm and lowered her eyebrows, but she couldn't build up the strength to finish the sentence.

Earl exhaled loudly and held his hand out, though he didn't quite want sex, he wasn't going to shoot down the idea either, "-not to talk about finances and such!" Chiya raised an eyebrow at him, "There's a lot of nice things that come out of sharing a bed, the joys of making sleep a Bendek-Flower activity being one of the many pleasures."

Chiya giggled somewhat and nodded, "Alright."

Earl crossed fingers with her, "Let's just start off seeing if we like this whole thing. If you don't like it, I'll head back to my room," he rubbed her fingers with a quirked mouth, "If you _do_ like it…" he turned his head away from her and grinned, "I guess we can start doing other things at night; like watch movies, snuggle, and kiss…"

Chiya's eyes began to water happily, "I'd like that…"

Earl took off his shirt and pulled Chiya's blanket up to their waists, he reached out towards the lamp and turned it off. The two rested their heads as they enjoyed their first night of permanent partner slumbering. Chiya closed her eyes with a cute smile, Earl closed his eyes with a smile as well. Earl was prepared for nights of good rest and silence…

"Earl..?"

He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah?"

"Do you like stars?"

He rubbed his chin and closed his eyes again, "Yeah, pretty majestic…"

She smiled and dipped her lip under her blanket, Earl closed his eyes again and exhaled.

"Good-night, Earl."

He nodded and turned his head. The room was silent for a few more moments, but Chiya opened her eyes again.

"Why do you think Captain Falcon chose the color blue?"

Earl slowly opened his eyes with a smirk, "…oh boy…"

Something Earl hadn't thought accounted for, was that Chiya would likely want to talk all night about general topics. Regardless, never again would Seppuku wake only Chiya, if Chiya woke up, Earl would wake up, and vice-versa. The days of Chiya and Earl being unwed continued, but this couldn't possibly go on much longer; and considering how fast the two were taking things…

…they would undoubtedly be parents by next year…

To be continued…


	22. Lap 21

==Lap 21=

Space-an endless abyss of stars, planets, and anomalies. Amongst these stars were millions of ships, each one containing life with stories to tell. The white and blue ship of Chiya Flower drifted through space with most of the power off, this ship contained many stories; arguably more stories than anyone could tell. As for right now, the story of Chiya and Earl was that of romance.

Seppuku kicked open the door to the bedroom Chiya and Earl were residing in, he immediately pointed forward with a strict look.

"You two..!" he grunted and lowered his eyebrows at what he was seeing.

Chiya and Earl were sleeping peacefully together with their beds now merged, both were sharing Chiya's blanket. Both young adults seemed fairly locked away in a slumber, not even Seppuku's obnoxious entering had awoken them. Chiya was a very heavy sleeper, but Earl wasn't; it was as if Earl just as stubborn as her waking up when the two were in the same bed.

Seppuku approached the merged beds and put his hand down on the blanket, he slightly frowned as he gazed upon the two, "Pushing beds together…" he chuckled softly, but still had a slight frown.

He personally didn't enjoy the sight of the two so close together, but this time he wasn't only enduring anger, he was enduring something else. He sat on the bed and removed his fedora; the crisp areas from the execution chair were still easily visible on each side of his head. He rubbed his forehead with a quirked mouth of discomfort.

Seppuku was no fool, he knew what he was seeing, he understood what was happening for nearly a year. He was running out of time. He clenched his fists and growled as he looked over at Earl.

"It's only a matter of time before he gains the courage to _get it in_…"

As soon as Chiya would become impregnated, the two would be fairly useless to him. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Chiya and Earl were very valuable to him, both as friends and main components to taking out Black Shadow. He believed that the three would remain friends until the day he dies, but Black Shadow was on the run, and if humanity had any hopes of surviving his holocaust, it would be up to Seppuku and Captain Falcon. Chiya becoming pregnant would mean the actual end of Team Seppuku, as even one as dark as Seppuku would never ask a mother to associate herself with Seppuku's line of work.

Seppuku sighed again and put his hat back on as he stared down at Earl. Surprisingly, Seppuku didn't plan on stopping them if he ever became aware of the fact that the two were having a time of passion with each other. If Chiya were to ever become pregnant, he would be forced to act alone against Black Shadow.

"Bendek," Earl's ear pranced, but he remained asleep, "Earl Bendek."

Seppuku waited a few moments to see if he would awaken, but for once he was as unconscious as Chiya. He continued to stare at Earl for several moments, before softly grasping Earl's mouth and forcing his eyelids open. Earl immediately grunted loudly and began to flail his arms around.

"Ss-sh…"

Earl's eyes were left quivering, but he remained silent as asked. He turned towards Chiya and blinked a few times, she was still asleep.

"What do you want?" he asked silently.

Earl and Seppuku later found themselves drinking coffee together on the couch, Earl appeared a bit skeptical of what Seppuku wanted from him. Seppuku was calmly sitting with a troubled expression. Both men took sips from their coffee, Seppuku then broke the peace by slamming his cup of coffee down on the floor. Earl had gasped at this loudly, fortunately, no coffee had spilt.

"Was that very necessary?"

Seppuku turned towards him and crossed his arms, "So you two are sleeping together now?"

"We used to sleep together all the time, what's wrong with that?"

"This time you pushed beds together…"

Earl dipped his head down and smirked, "…yeah…"

Seppuku rested his hand on Earl's shoulder, "Bendek, I know that you wanna' have sex with her, but you can't-"

"I never said that!"

He chuckled softly, "Oh, but it'll happen…" Earl lowered his eyebrows nervously, "You already told me about your little incident in that water resort with her, so I know that you're prepared to go that far with her."

"Well, yeah, but I-"

"It's not a bad thing that you want to deflower her."

Earl gasped and scooted away from him with a glare, "I don't feel like talking about this right now!"

Seppuku shrugged, "Personally, I'm excited to hear about your experiences with her; but I'm not concerned about the sex portion of this…" he poked Earl's forehead, "I'm scared that you're going to knock her up."

"Get her pregnant?"

"Black Shadow still wants us dead. It's not safe, Earl, to have a child with her. Not yet."

Earl glared at him again while fake chuckling, "Well, you sure don't seem afraid about this sort of thing when it comes to her mother!"

"Fiona doesn't work alongside us; she would keep our child safe, if we had one," he gave Earl a very heavy stare, "Chiya, on the other hand, is a servant of justice. I can't afford to lose you two with Black Shadow still out there."

"You don't need us, we can't lay a finger on Blood Falcon, and I'm pretty sure we couldn't do any harm to Black Shadow."

Seppuku sighed, "Well, like I said, I'm not going to stop you two; however…" he grabbed Earl's hand at placed something in his palm, Earl grunted loudly, "Wear a condom, man."

Earl dropped the condom and launched himself up, "Alright, I'm done with _this_…"

Seppuku remained sitting as Earl marched off angrily; he had ultimately failed to convince him to be careful. He sighed and shook negatively as Earl slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.

Much later that day, the group had returned to Mute City, and Chiya was sitting alone at Bart's Café. She had forgotten to speak with Bart before the Big Blue race, as she liked to collect his advice before every race; but she won none-the-less. The traffic in the Upper City was very busy as usual, and the café even had a few customers in the back.

Chiya had been sitting at the café for a good hour now, she already had her coffee during a long conversation with Bart, but he insisted that she stayed. When asked why he wanted her to stay at the café, he merely told her that he was waiting for someone, and that he has a surprise for her. Chiya was somewhat excited to see what this surprise was going to be; especially since Bart was wealthy.

Chiya tapped her fingers down on the counter constantly with a large smile, anxious to see what this surprise would be. Bart was flipping through channels for an interesting program to watch.

"Come on then, what's the surprise?"

"I called the person quite a while ago; he should be here at any moment."

She puckered her lips, "But what if they don't show up, do I still get a surprise?"

Bart shrugged, "Sure."

Chiya was tapping her feet down constantly; her fingers were wiggling around constantly in excitement. Bart found a news channel, but turned towards Chiya slightly after setting down the remote.

"Do you still like Captain Falcon at all?"

Chiya beamed; "Um, yeah!" she lowered her eyelids and exhaled softly, "I'd melt if Earl came into my room one night dressed like Captain Falcon…"

Bart closed his eyes and grinned as he rubbed his chin, "Well, I do know a place where you can buy some pretty authentic looking-"

Both were startled as the door to the café swung open, Chiya spun around to see who it was, then beamed. Bart crossed his arms and saluted.

"Hi, Earl!"

Earl immediately sat himself next to Chiya with a grin, "Hello."

She puckered her lips and held his hand, "Couldn't stay away from me for even an hour?"

"No, Bart called me over."

Chiya widened her eyes, "Oh, so we were waiting for Earl?"

Bart nodded, "I have a surprise for both of you. I shouldn't be letting Ms. Flower see this, but I know she's very interested in Captain Falcon."

"Do I get to have one of his socks?" asked Chiya.

Bart put a rag over Chiya's head and covered her eyes, she grunted and gritted her teeth; Earl helped tie the rag around her head.

"W- what are you doing?"

"Gotta' take you down to Captain Falcon's hideout, but you can't know where it is."

Chiya frowned, "Does Earl get to know?"

"Yes, because-"

"Not fair!"

The two finished tying the rag, Bart chuckled and patted her back, "We work for Captain Falcon, and you don't."

"I would like to work for Captain Falcon, now, please."

The two ignored her request and proceeded towards the door with her.

The three had been walking for about ten minutes, and Chiya had no clue where she was. All she saw was darkness, and the two were holding her hands so she wouldn't try and catch a glimpse. The mystery was driving her insane; she wanted to know where Captain Falcon lives so badly. Even Earl knew that Chiya was clingy enough to the point where she would begin to stalk him if she had this information, so not even he agreed that Chiya should get to see.

Chiya gasped as she could feel stairs below her, Bart and Earl were very careful helping her down. She gritted her teeth nervously as she took slow steps while trembling.

"C- can't I just take it off so I can see the stairs?"

"No."

Chiya frowned as they guided her downstairs, "So far this isn't very fun…"

Earl chuckled, "Relax, we're almost there."

After about two minutes of helping her down the stairs, the three made it to a door; Chiya could only imagine that this door was very futuristic and amazing looking. The sound of a keypad being typed on constantly could be heard; she bit her lip and began to bounce slightly.

"Just let me see!"

The door opened, and Bart slightly shoved her through. He very quickly closed the door behind him and locked it again. Chiya had enough; she tugged the rag off of her face with an offended look. Bart and Earl moved up beside her momentarily. She scanned her surroundings quickly, but one glimpse was all it took for her to gasp uncontrollably loud.

"Who-oa!"

"Welcome to the Falcon garage."

The three were now in a massive underground garage; there were tools, computers, two F-Zero machines, and other expensive things. Earl was grinning at Chiya for several moments as she gazed upon what was truly a wonderland in her eyes. Bart swished his hand around aimlessly and chuckled.

"Go ahead; you can explore the garage a bit."

Chiya's eyes gradually widened at the sight of the _Blue Falcon_, a machine she had longed to feel with her own bare hands. She ran over to the legendary machine and instantly forced herself down onto the shiny blue machine in amazement. She rubbed her cheek against the metal with quivering eyes.

"It feels better than I ever imagined…"

Earl and Bart exchanged glances, then approached the _Blue Falcon_ slowly. Bart snapped his fingers and pointed at the machine, "The Blue Falcon is undoubtedly the racing machine fit for a legend. One day, Captain Falcon will die-"

"Never!"

Bart smirked, "This machine will be passed down to another great person if Black Shadow is still alive by the time Falcon dies."

"What if we stop Black Shadow?"

Bart looked down at the shiny metal, gazing into his own reflection, "Falcon will likely donate this machine to a museum—where it should be."

Chiya shook negatively, "Captain Falcon will never die. We'll have new medicine and technology to keep us from dying."

Earl grunted and gritted his teeth, "God, I really don't wanna' live past seventy…"

Chiya spun around and leapt up on the edge of the cockpit, Bart widened his eyes at the sight of her rear pressing down against the metal. He quickly grabbed her arm and brought her back up.

"Please, Ms. Flower; we shouldn't be leaving our imprints on such a relic."

Earl raised an eyebrow, "Are you implying that Chiya has a large rear?"

She glared at Bart, "You think I have a large-"

Bart put his arms around the two and chuckled, "But anyways, I did invite you two here for a reason…" he briefly walked around the _Blue Falcon_ with the two.

"Yeah, what's this surprise you were talking about?"

Bart pointed across the garage with a smirk, "We just dug this out of Port Town not long ago, seem familiar?"

Chiya and Earl both gasped in awe at what they were seeing. Across from them was a shiny blue machine—the _Blue Falcon_. But this wasn't the same machine the universe has come to love; this one had a large history behind it.

"What is this? A new machine!?" Chiya asked excitedly.

Earl chuckled softly and crossed his arms, "Well, hot damn, I imagined that this had been scrapped a long time ago…"

The machine held many similarities to the regular _Blue Falcon_, but this one was smaller and had a very large emerald cockpit. Bart leaned against the emerald glass of the cockpit and smirked.

"You don't recognize this machine, Chiya?"

She wiggled her fingers around with a smile, "No."

Bart exhaled and turned towards the machine, "This is the original Blue Falcon. Back when F-Zero wasn't too popular."

Chiya's eyes shot open, "Th- this is the old Blue Falcon!?"

"Yep."

Chiya and Earl approached the machine and immediately began to examine it; Earl rubbed his finger against the metal and raised his eyebrows, "This doesn't seem to be made of very durable material."

"F-Zero machines back then would break down simply by hitting a safety rail one too many times. Goroh wasn't very good at making turns, so he ended up damaging his machine constantly."

Despite having no knowledge on this era of F-Zero, Chiya was clearly the one most interested by the relic. This was possibly the very first formula-zero machine ever made, and to her it looked very primitive. She raised an eyebrow and hummed as she ran her hand across the body. _How could anyone race in a machine this small? It'd look so silly..!_ Her intrigue had intensified after examining the rear of the machine; this was by far the part of the machine that looked most different to her.

"Bart, where are the boosters?"

Bart and Earl came to the rear of the machine, Bart smirked and nodded, "There were no boosters back then. F-Zero used a more complex system back then."

Chiya rubbed her eyebrow, "More complex?"

He momentarily opened up a large panel just below the rockets, revealing five silos. Bart knelt down with her and pointed at the silos, "Before every race, a racer would fill up each of the five silos with boost capsules…" he reached into one of the silos and slowly pulled out a very large and heavy rusty capsule, he dropped it onto the ground and rubbed his hands. The capsule appeared eroded, much like a battery. "Every lap, the checkpoint would send a message to the machine telling it to open up _one_ silo. The racer then had the option to use a boost capsule. Five capsules, five laps."

"-and what does the boost capsule do?"

Bart lifted up the eroded capsule and unscrewed the top, revealing a rocket, "Since we hadn't invented vehicular boosters yet, boost capsules were used instead. Each one contained about twenty gallons of energy—the racer would stop boosting as soon as every last drop of energy was exerted from the capsule."

Earl grinned, "F-Zero was very different back then."

"Agreed, and there was no violence allowed on the track either. As soon as popularity picked up, the greed and corruption of the F-Zero committee followed…"

Chiya shook negatively, "F-Zero is better these days."

"It's more interesting, yes; but F-Zero has become its own nation, with its own set of laws. That isn't right…"

The three continued to stand around the machine for several seconds, Earl was still looking down at the eroded boost capsule. Chiya was left contemplating about Bart's reasoning. One question Chiya still had, was where they had been taken to. Bart grinned and put his hands in his pockets.

"But, anyways, this machine no longer runs. So I thought that it would be a fun project to work on with some buddies."

Earl beamed, "You want us to help restore this classic machine?"

"Exactly, just for the fun of it."

Chiya gasped loudly, "I get to help fix the Blue Falcon!?"

"That's right."

"Sweet! I can't believe that I'm going to be working on something for Captain Falcon!"

"Captain Falcon will appreciate the extra hand."

Chiya slapped her cheek with a cute smile, "Do you think he'd let me take this out for a spin when we're done?"

"No."

She frowned, but nodded none-the-less. Earl cracked his knuckles and chuckled, "Alright, throw me a tool—I'm anxious to work on this great piece of history!"

Jody folded her hands together and sighed loudly behind her desk, her entire team was facing her silently. Jody had placed well in the first race, but ultimately, Seppuku had topped her by one rank. She had now encountered Seppuku for the first time since she tried to have him executed; and now she was having yet another change of heart.

"Everyone, as you may have noticed, I was getting a bit carried away with this Seppuku predicament…" almost everyone in the room exchanged glances, Stewart appeared most intrigued, ""My judgment may not have been very mature, for someone of my rank."

Stewart grinned, "It's good to accept flaws."

"I no longer believe that Seppuku is working with Black Shadow. However, that doesn't mean we're out of danger yet; Black Shadow can still capture Seppuku…"

Jack shrugged carelessly, "Ay' let's just lock him up in maximum security."

Jody sighed, "Let's be honest. We could send Seppuku down to Hell, and he'd still break out of there…" she joked.

Jody took a few seconds to organize a few documents she had printed; she lined the documents up perfectly and held them forward. Everyone was staring at the documents intensely, wondering what she could want.

"These are the legal documents that legalize the manhunt for the Lieutenant," she narrowed her eyes, "Destroy them."

Tanaka was the one who took the documents out of her hand; he looked down at the papers and raised an eyebrow, "You want the bounty you issued destroyed, but not the warrant?"

Jody stood up and clenched her fists, "As of now, I want all of you to resume regular duties. I've decided to take matters into my own hands…"

Both Stewart and Tanaka grunted, Rick quirked his mouth, "So you don't want us to attack Seppuku on the track?" Jody nodded affirmatively, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

Jody slowly glanced down at an old team photo on her desk; the photo was of Jody, Stewart, Clash, and Seppuku. She lowered her eyebrows and very slowly shook negatively.

"It was wrong of me to try and put the lives of others at risk for something I should have taken care of myself long ago…"

The room had become silent again, only this time Jody appeared somewhat troubled. She was still staring at the photo with heavy concentration, almost forgetting that her entire team was watching. She looked up at everyone and hummed.

"If Dark Million falls before I can get my hands on Seppuku's throat—I'll leave him be, but for now, he's still a target to me…" she swiped her hand across the air, "As I've said, you are all to resume regular duties. As for me, I will continue my hunt for Seppuku—alone."

With this being said, Jody had ordered that the manhunt for Seppuku come to an end. He was allowed to roam freely once again, but not comfortably, as Jody would still be trying to take him down. Ultimately, allowing Seppuku to roam freely would benefit Jody in her effort to find him. It was only a matter of time before Jody would learn of his whereabouts.

A while later, far out in space, the sounds of church organs filled the hallways of Black Shadow's ship. The songs being played were psalms from the Holy Catholic Church—but rearranged much more darkly. Armed Death Soldiers roamed the hallways with highly advanced weapons equipped; they were patrolling specific sections of the ship for intruders.

Hundreds of men dawning the original attire of Blood Falcon sat in rows. The room was dark and red from the stained decorated glass on each side of the room. The stained glass window in front of the chapel depicted Dark Rose—who was deemed religiously as the mother of Dark Million. One glass decoration portrayed what appeared to be Blood Falcon with large red angelic wings—only this Blood Falcon had a red scarf.

Blood Falcon was standing motionlessly in the front of the chapel, he had his arms crossed behind his back as he and all of his clone followers silently praised the glory of Dark Million and the Red Dove. The visor below Blood Falcon's black pickelhaube was blank, as his eyes were closed; he had a smirk on his face as he stood motionless. His typical white eyes momentarily flashed onto his visor upon hearing a single footstep behind him.

Brock Blaskovitz stood behind him and was wielding a massive machine gun firmly. Blood Falcon crossed his arms and chuckled softly, the other clones momentarily joined him in maniacal laughter. Brock grunted and lowered his eyebrows as he gazed upon the hundreds of laughing clones.

"I do not understand you people, what are we laughing about?"

Blood Falcon spun around with razor sharp teeth, he had a disturbing look of excitement on his face, "You're interrupting our silent sermon, _Bolshevik_…"

"Black Shadow wants us to reveal ourselves."

Blood Falcon raised an eyebrow and chuckled, "Reveal ourselves?"

"Remind the universe that we still control them, that we are the shadow of the universe that can never be destroyed."

Blood Falcon looked down at his machine gun and hummed, "Sounds very, erotic…" he pointed at Brock firmly, "What kind of revelation?"

"An explosive revelation…"

Blood Falcon grunted and crossed his arms, "Explosive, you say..?"

"Ea-arl! This engine uses a fiber panel I've never even seen before!" Chiya complained loudly.

"There isn't some other part of the engine you can work on?"

She shined a light into the engine and lowered her eyebrows, "This needs a new fiber panel and some thick wiring."

Earl turned towards Bart and pointed, "Bart, might Captain Falcon have some extra thick wires hanging around his office?"

"This shouldn't need new wiring; it hasn't been used in a long time."

Chiya shook negatively, "Wire erosion."

Bart raised his eyebrows in surprise, "The wires? Erosion?"

"What part of this _hasn't_ eroded!?"

Earl sighed and closed a side panel, he needed to put new bolts into the panel, but he would do that later, "We need more supplies before we can finish this thing, Bart."

Bart smirked and nodded, "Sure, let me go back in time and buy a new fiber panel and wiring kit."

"Hey, drop the sarcasm, Lemming."

Chiya clapped her hands together and exhaled happily, "Thanks for taking me here, Bart."

Bart crossed his arms as he looked into the emerald cockpit of the machine, "This certainly is a magnificent piece, isn't it, Ms. Flower?"

Chiya put her hand onto the body of the machine and nodded, "It's like taking care of a pony—except this pony can break the sound barrier."

Earl stretched his arms and yawned, "Well, believe it or not, Chiya and I need to head back and get ready for this pet shelter."

"Pet shelter?"

Chiya beamed, "Me and Earl are going to make a pet shelter in the Lower City!"

"Oh, well, that's very cute," Chiya glared at Bart, "Alright, Ms. Flower, time to tie the rag again."

Chiya quickly backed away from him, "I- I'll just keep my eyes shut!"

Both Earl and Bart appeared disinterested by this, ensuring that Chiya knew little about their whereabouts was simply too important. Earl grabbed Chiya and put the rag around her face, she resisted, but momentarily accepted that she wouldn't be seeing where they were any time soon.

"Am I even supposed to be down here?" she finally asked.

The two began escorting her towards the door, Bart chuckled, "It's fine. Just can't have you stalking the Captain whenever he's down here."

"I won't!" she puckered her lips and pressed her fingers together, "But I would very much like to see him pull up his sleeve and flex for me…"

Bart smirked at Earl, "You're clearly not pampering her enough…"

Earl and Chiya later found themselves together at the dining table, they were now eating dinner, but once again, Seppuku was missing. Chiya was staring at his plate of food sadly, as she couldn't stand the thought of her hard work going to waste. Earl was chowing down on everything that was on his plate. Chiya sighed loudly and rested her chin on her cheek.

"You as might as well take Seppuku's plate, if you're still hungry…"

Earl smiled, but his smile instantly disappeared, "Don't feel bad, Seppuku's never been much of a family man."

She nodded slightly, "But doesn't he like us?"

Earl lowered his eyebrows with a quivering smirk, "I like to think that he does…" he licked his lips and reached over for Seppuku's plate, "Well, his loss. I can always go for some extra-"

The entrance to the base was suddenly slammed very roughly; Chiya and Earl had both practically fallen out of their seats in shock. The door very slowly opened, Seppuku came in holding his foot.

"Dammit! Who's bright idea was it to install a door that can't be pushed open?"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "…you..?"

Both gasped loudly as Seppuku walked into the lobby—with dried blood all over his body. Chiya slammed her hands down and widened her eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What happened to you!?"

Earl felt a shock go down his spine as Seppuku was dragging a large bag behind him; Seppuku dropped the large bag and raised an eyebrow at Chiya.

"What?"

"Th- the blood! Are you hurt!?"

"Oh, oh! Right!" he picked the bag back up and slammed it down on the table, "Stupid bastard was preparing to rape this young woman right in the middle of the street. Can you believe that?"

Chiya gasped loudly, "Wh- what!?"

Earl nearly choked on his food while trying to take in this drama, "So you put her in a bag!?"

Seppuku rubbed his chin, "What? No."

Chiya took a whiff of the air and momentarily widened her eyes, "Blimey! What the bloody Hell is that stench!?"

Seppuku chuckled and pulled out his seat, proceeding to eat from his plate, "Let me tell you how it all began…" Chiya and Earl exchanged nervous glances, "So, I was taking one of my legendary nighttime walks, you know, like when I first met you, Chiya."

"Yes..?"

"So, I'm just walking, and I find a guy holding a weak woman down, in the middle of the street, trying to get her clothes off!" Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "-and I mean, this guy was sick. At least those two who tried to rape you would have taken you into an alley or something; but this guy, he was going to do it right in the middle of the street like some kind of animal."

Chiya looked at the bag with quivering eyes; the stench from the bag was immense. Seppuku chuckled and crossed his arms.

"So, I walk up to the guy, and I'm like, _'Hey, let go of her…'_ and what not. So he stands up and tells me to go suck his _unmentionables_…" Chiya stuck her tongue out in disgust, "I responded, by laughing at him, so I told him that I was going to kick his ass. Then, you know what he did?" Chiya and Earl were left blinking in shock, Seppuku was looking back and forth constantly while holding in a chuckle, "The dude stands tall, pulls down his pants, and proceeds to moon me…"

Chiya grunted, "What was the woman doing..?"

Seppuku shrugged, "I dunno'. But long story short, I was offended, so-o…" he chuckled, "I _may_ have let my emotions get ahead of me…"

Chiya sighed loudly with a frustrated look, "Well, that's great…"

Earl was staring at the bag with a troubled look, "How the Hell are we gonna' ditch this body?"

Chiya glared at Seppuku and slammed her fists down, "Seppuku, that was murder!"

Seppuku slammed his hands down, "What are you talking about!?"

Earl swung his finger towards the bag, "The body!"

Seppuku shook negatively and unzipped the bag, Chiya looked away quickly, fearful of how destroyed the man would look. But this wasn't at all what was in the bag. A massive amount of chopped onions, potatoes, and tomatoes spewed out of the bag onto the table. Chiya and Earl both grunted loudly at the sight of this, Seppuku chuckled loudly as he grasped several onions and potatoes.

"That woman brought me to her house, and after she showed me her bed for a few good hours, she sent me home with all of this as a reward for saving her," Seppuku shook negatively at Chiya, "I don't remember _you_ giving me anything for saving you…"

Earl grasped his forehead, "W- what happened to the rapist?"

"Stripped him down to his underwear, beat the crap out of him, and sent him running home—right in front of that woman."

The lobby had become silent; Seppuku had easily created a very confusing scene. He was simply eating off of his plate while eating potato slices from the bag. Earl was still twitching in confusion; Chiya had a frozen look of awe. Seppuku swallowed his food and raised an eyebrow at the two.

"You two can have some slices, go ahead."

New Edinburgh, Mysteria—one of the most populated cities on the planet; and the only city tourists are occasionally allowed into. This city had witnessed many historical periods, dating back to the days of when Mysteria was a democratic member of the Federation, to the days of a restored communist government, and finally to the period of a pacifist socialist planet. The school of New Edinburgh had lost their regionals soccer game to Engelland—a sport this city strived in.

New Edinburgh was silent, it was far past midnight and the usual curfew was being enforced. Despite the lack of traffic and pedestrians during curfew, Mysterian soldiers continued to patrol the streets in search of unlawful activity.

One soldier was patrolling alone; she had a very loyal grasp on her rifle as she scanned each alleyway carefully. Other soldiers were checking more unusual areas, such as sewers. She came to a stop and sighed as she watched a squad of soldiers move down a street. She puckered her lips and lowered her rifle with one hand as she began to re-adjust her helmet. She removed the visor of her helmet and gazed into her reflection with a very distracted look. Despite what the universe thought about Mysteria, they were no longer communist; they were socialist; therefore, they had practically abandoned their warmongering ways long ago. To protect the sovereignty of Mysteria, the government had no choice but to keep the universe believing that they were a bloodthirsty empire. While the draft of women was indeed martial law, the government had no intentions of ever intervening or starting a war.

The woman put continued to stare into the reflection, but she lowered her eyebrows upon seeing something in the reflection. The sky appeared to be glowing.

"Huh..?"

She put the visor back on her helmet and spun around, she and many other soldiers were surprised to see that the immense fog above them was now beginning to glow red. She grunted with quivering eyes as the sound of a boom echoed throughout the sky, followed by a strong gust of wind. Many of the soldiers had now stopped patrolling and were looking up at the sky in awe.

The soldier gasped in awe as her hair was thrown around wildly by the wind.

Black Shadow's ship slowly lowered itself down towards the surface of Mysteria—specifically, above New Edinburgh. Black Shadow stood behind Blood Falcon, Brock, and about twenty of the Blood Falcon drones. Brock gazed upon the sleeping city of New Edinburgh with a serious expression, Blood Falcon's scarf was blowing in the wind as he and his drones stood by an opened hatch. There was a large red shield surrounding the ship—hence the reason that the sky was now illuminated red.

Brock smirked and shook negatively, "This is the home planet of Dark Rose."

Black Shadow shook negatively, "These people had endured my wrath before; surely, they can do it again…"

Blood Falcon looked down at the city and quirked his mouth, "May we begin the attack?"

"Patience, we can't put frosting on a cake, that hasn't been baked yet…"

Brock chuckled, "I will remember two things from this day…" he snapped his fingers, "The first, being that Black Shadow made a cooking joke; the other, being the reactions of the people after we demonstrate the true firepower of Dark Million at full strength."

The drones all had chains around their wrists, attached to each chain was a high-powered Dark Million handgun. This way, if the drones desired to equip their handguns, all they had to do was flip their wrist upward. Without further hesitation, Black Shadow held his hand up into the air with glowing white eyes.

"Now, let us once again punish the humans for defying the true master of the universe!"

The lone soldier continued to grunt with quivering eyes, the ship of Black Shadow was now within sight. She and many other Mysterians could instantly recognize this ship, the same ship from the Day of Falling Mist—the greatest Mysterian tragedy in history. The soldier's jaw dropped slowly in utter shock as the loud booming of laser cannons could be heard. She took a step back, but was suddenly knocked off her feet by the shockwave of an explosion.

She had dropped her weapon upon falling and scraped her hands roughly against the concrete sidewalk. She gritted her teeth and gasped as she gazed upon the sudden destruction that surrounded the city. The city sirens had gone off as soon as the first explosion had occurred.

Buildings were instantly blown into, streets were destroyed, and vehicles went up in flames. The soldiers of Mysteria who remained on the streets had either been pulverized or now mildly traumatized. Naturally, anyone on the streets was breaking into homes for cover, but Dark Million was clearly attacking civilian installations—not military. There was no enemy to fight, the soldiers who were willing to fight had no objective other than to survive the sudden surprise attack.

A group of soldiers charged past a burning street and got up against the wall of a house, not a single soldier was left unshaken as the beloved city of New Edinburgh had instantly been reduced to a sea of fire and destruction. Black Shadow was relentless; any house that was left untouched was obliterated moments later. The city hall was now taking massive heat, even though no politicians were currently there. The glass dome of the city hall had been blown into, a fireball of combined smoke and fire rushed out of the destroyed dome.

Mysterian soldiers were running down the debris covered hallways of the city hall, one of which was holding a large tubular rocket launcher. The center conference room of the city hall that was below the dome was now destroyed—the large portrait of the original queen of Mysteria had caught fire. The women charged up the stairs leading up to the roof of the city hall, but another explosion had suddenly hit the roof, knocking everyone down the stairs.

One more projectile hit the corner-center of the city hall, causing the roof to plunge down and bring the entire building down with it. Smoke and debris blanketed the city, now blinding many of the soldiers who were trying to take refuge from the onslaught. The blazing fire that now covers the city could easily be seen through the thick fog of Mysteria, and quite possibly from orbit as well.

After a few minutes of non-stop Hell, Mysterian starfighters had finally been deployed into the air to stop Black Shadow. The pilots were very concentrated and had special goggles on that allowed them to see past the fog. The bright image of Black Shadow's ship towering over the city was quickly coming into sight.

"My God, she's a big beast…" one of the pilots commented.

Two hatches opened up on a starfighter, revealing shiny thin rockets. Each starfighter got in attack position and came flying towards Black Shadow at incredible speed. The flight leader nodded and opened up a panel in their cockpit.

"Fire."

The starfighters launched various missile-like rockets towards the massive ship, each rocket left a smokey trail. The pilots continued to fly towards the ship while waiting for the rockets to explode. At that very moment, each rocket was intercepted in midflight—leaving a massive wall of explosions in midair. The starfighters had instantly run into their own explosions and ended up taking severe damage. Every single starfighter had instantly begun to burn and lose control, leaving each pilot to eject out of their ship for safety.

Many Mysterian citizens began to gasp in shock upon seeing all of the now-empty starfighters crash and explode. Fortunately, every pilot had bailed out in time. It had become clear to just about everyone that the Mysterian government was doomed to fail their people yet again during a time they need them most.

Black Shadow smirked, the streets of New Edinburgh were blazing orange—as if every street were made of lava.

"They send their tiny ships at us? Where are their warships, missiles, tanks?" he chuckled evilly while shaking negatively, "…how tragic…"

Black Shadow turned towards Blood Falcon and nodded, he smirked back at him and momentarily pressed a button above his head. Very long metallic ropes had fired down to the surface upon pressing the button—much like a grappling hook. Brock approached one of the ropes and grasped onto it, he momentarily felt a heavy nudge, telling him that the rope had sunk deep into the planet surface. Blood Falcon and his drones grasped onto their ropes after Brock.

"Strike fear into the fools, then return to the ship," ordered Black Shadow.

Blood Falcon slowly smirked, "Yes, Master."

Brock stepped off the edge while holding onto the rope, he was plummeting towards the surface quickly; his hand was turning red from the immense rope burn he was getting. Blood Falcon was coming down at an even quicker speed; despite how fast he was going down, his glove wasn't ripping, nor were the drones. The Blood Falcon drones all had fairly anxious looks to finally demonstrate what they had been taught for the many months they were alive.

Blood Falcon barred his sharp teeth while chuckling immensely; compared to the long-term goal of commencing such an attack on Mute City—this was but a mere appetizer. Brock landed on the surface roughly, his red eye glowed brightly for a moment as he stood up. Blood Falcon and his drones all landed as well, they had landed inside a ring of fire. Brock smirked and exhaled loudly as he gazed upon the burning city, his smirk had suddenly disappeared followed by a grunt.

"I forgot my machine gun…"

Blood Falcon shrugged and cracked his knuckles, "You don't need a machine gun."

Brock nodded, "You are right, I _am_ machine gun!" he scoffed loudly.

Mysterian tanks had later arrived, but this was ultimately useless, as Black Shadow simply had each tank destroyed with precision bombing. The city of New Edinburgh was witnessing utter annihilation, and with _some_ of his clones attacking the city this time, this event would undoubtedly go on to be worse than the Day of Falling Mist.

Black Shadow rubbed his chin while watching random explosions go off in the city, he could only imagine what destruction his creations could be imposing. A Death Soldier approached him with a cup of tea.

"Your tea, Master Black Shadow."

Black Shadow grinned and took the tea off of the plate, "Very good."

He gazed upon the burning city while taking a sip from his tea, but he momentarily spewed it out and grunted loudly. He threw the cup of tea off the edge and turned towards the Death Soldier furiously.

"I wanted Black—not Decaf you idiot!"

He grasped the robot by the throat and threw him off the ship. Black Shadow quirked his mouth as he continued to watch the city burn.

Several Mysterian soldiers fired constant bullets down the ravaged street, the soles of their jackboots were melting as they stood over the blazing concrete street—but this was life or death. Nearly ten soldiers were firing aimlessly down the street into the smoke, praying to hit one of the supernatural drones. No one understood what was going on, as far as anyone else was concerned, they were fighting demons.

Brock grasped a streetlight and forced it out of the ground; he tossed the light across the street with immense strength. The soldiers continued to fire, but the streetlight had suddenly come into sight.

"Look out!"

A soldier dived down and pushed her comrade down onto the sizzling concrete. Both grunted loudly as their chests received severe burning, the streetlight hit the ground and smashed some of the military vehicles they were using as blockades. Both women had finally lost their loyalty and decided to run away. Two drones had momentarily charged down the street firing their handguns constantly at any soldier they could find. Civillians were either slaughtered or lucky enough to stay hidden.

Brock rounded a corner and found the store Chiya had once entered to purchase Chiya Flower fan items. Brock narrowed his eye at the sight of cute Chiya Flower dolls. He beat his fist through the window of the store, completely disregarding the surge of pain this brought him. He beat the remaining parts of the window aside and lifted up a Mysterian assault rifle. In a matter of seconds, Brock began to shoot at all of the products, completely destroying anything relevant to Chiya Flower. He stopped after about a minute and smirked.

"She is a bad racer anyways…"

The Blood Falcon drones were running through streets firing their weapons aimlessly, they were merely destroying everything they saw for the sake of destruction. There wasn't a single soldier left in New Edinburgh who wasn't hiding—or dead. All hope had been lost for a Mysterian victory; Dark Million would continue to destroy whatever they considered destroyable. Only one thing was raging through the people of New Edinburgh's head: Is this the end?

Fiona Flower stood outside of the Flower homestead with a look of disbelief as the sounds of the alarm, explosions, starfighters, and gunfire ravaged. The sight of a bright orange light could be seen through the fog—telling her that something huge was happening in New Edinburgh.

Blood Falcon watched from atop a destroyed house, his animalistic behavior was a direct result of the inhumane behavior installed into all Dark Million members. Despite how much of a dark fantasy this was to him, nothing would satisfy him until he saw the same done to Mute City—while holding up the crushed helmet of Captain Falcon victoriously.

This was truly a dream for a monster created by an even bigger monster; but for everyone else, it was a nightmare come to life…

All the while, Chiya and Earl slumbered peacefully together. The two planned on working on Good Odds the following morning. Chiya had a faint smile on her face as she slept, the fact that she would soon be opening up a business that helps animals in the Lower City was great, and the feeling of sleeping with Earl in her own bed was amazing.

But alas…

…she had no idea that her second hometown was being annihilated; by the time she wakes up, Dark Million will have left, and New Edinburgh will be nothing more than a mere memory…

To be continued…


	23. Lap 22

==Lap 22=

"My great Mysterian people; today, we mourn over a tragedy that has left all of us in tears. Early in the morning, the city of New Edinburgh had been attacked, not by the Federation or Magican warmongers, but by a true force of evil. The evil I speak of, is none other than the Empire of Dark Million…" the queen spoke calmly.

Mysterian soldiers and citizens were working together franticly in search of survivors, the entire city of New Edinburgh had been reduced to rubble, and people were praying to find loved ones.

"Despite their best efforts, the Mysterian military was unable to send back the invading army of evil, and many noble women of the Mysterian army were killed in the barbaric onslaught…"

Fiona was stirring up some coffee as water filled her eyes, she had the news on in her room, but had the volume up very high so she could hear from the kitchen. Behind her tears were red eyes, as she had never slept.

"This, was not an act of war; this was an act of terror. No valuables were stolen, no citizens were raped, and no damage was done to military facilities. The enemy army had left the planet about an hour after commencing the attack. This, was not a battle; this was a mere act of inhumane behavior-a behavior, that must never be forgiven."

The Engelland hospital was filled with injured and wounded people from New Edinburgh. The hallways of the hospital were filled with people, as there were not enough rooms for everyone.

"With New Edinburgh destroyed, the economic mobility of Mysteria as a whole is, unfortunately, destined to decline rapidly. As a result, martial law is being enacted, and all construction workers, welders, teachers, and unemployed teenagers are expected to help reconstruct the city. We are decades from restoring New Edinburgh, but have hope, my people; like last time, we shall rebuild…"

Every part of New Edinburgh that had been burning was now extinguished, but smoke continued to fill the air. Large tents had been set up in New Edinburgh by families, as many were unwilling to leave their beloved city. Within hours, New Edinburgh had gone from _City_ status, to _Village_.

"This act of unethical hostility is a clear message from the devil; Dark Million will pay dearly for crossing paths with the Mysterian Empire. What has happened will not go unpunished. We will rise from the ashes once more, and bring this dark empire to their knees. This is a promise that, I, your queen, will fulfill…"

Jody Summer entered a massive conference room with a suitcase in her hand. She lowered her eyebrows and scanned the room slowly. There were several Federation representatives in the room, all of which were one or two ranks below Jody. Ultimately, Jody was still the chief commander of the Federation-one rank from commander. Jody momentarily spotted the commander of the Federation sitting next to his advisors on one end of the large round table.

She sighed loudly and put her suitcase under her assigned chair, "North America is the last place I want to be right now…" she muttered aloud.

She prepared to sit down, but took another moment to look at all of the high-ranked Federation officers in the room. _I'm surprised that so many officers were able to make it on such short notice…_ She closed her eyes and sighed loudly. _Though, I sure wish I could have brought someone along for the conversation. Hell, I would've even been fine bringing Tanaka along…_ Jody hummed and rubbed her chin. _I wonder who I'm sitting next to…_ She looked to the left of her seat with a raised eyebrow, her eyes shot open after grunting very loudly upon reading the nameplate.

"Oh, Hell no…" she muttered softly.

"Jody Summer?"

Jody tightly closed her eyes and cringed upon hearing the voice of a woman behind her, she slightly opened her eyes into slits and got a fake smile on her face. She spun around and cleared her throat. In front of her was a woman in a purple outfit, she had brown hair and brown eyes.

"Hello, _Megan_…" Jody greeted somewhat hostilely.

Megan sat in her seat and flexed her fingers with a prideful grin, "So, are you in charge of the American Federation HQ now?"

Jody sat down and growled softly, the tone of Megan's voice easily hinted that she already knew the answer, but wanted to hear Jody's response. Jody closed her eyes and quirked her mouth.

"No, I'm still in charge of the Asia…"

Megan face gasped and slapped her cheek softly, "Still!?"

"Oh, shut up!"

Megan held her hands up defensively and puckered her lips, "Sorry! I tend to lose track of things, you know, being the major of Europe is kind of hard…"

Jody rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm glad that you're having fun being in charge of my home…"

"Oh, yes, I love Germany, very much!" she closed her eyes with a smile and proceeded to pat Jody's back, "But hey, you should be proud to have all that control over Asia; that part of Earth is pretty interesting too…"

Jody slapped her hand away and growled, "Joke all you want, Ms. Megan-"

"_Mrs._ Megan," she corrected.

"Yes, congratulations…"

Megan looked down at Jody's hand and beamed, "Oh, Jody! I thought for sure that you were going to get married to-"

"Anyways, as I was saying; I'm the chief commander of the Federation; so watch your mouth, because I'll be your boss in a matter of years…"

Megan raised an eyebrow with a smirk, "Well, I bet if the Commander hears me out today, I may very well steal your rank."

"Megan, you'll never become chief commander…"

Megan narrowed her eyes hostilely, "Yes, well, you sure seem to be busy with your other hobbies. The Federation could use a leader with more free time…"

Jody laughed, "I won the Grand Prix and brought the Federation a billion credits. Where's the Hot Violet, Megan?"

Megan grunted loudly and clenched her fist, "I- I don't have time to F-Zero race anymore!"

"Sure, Megan, sure…" Jody puckered her lips and wiggled her fingers, "Or is it more likely that the implementation of boosters and combat modules scared you off?"

Megan shut her eyes and lowered her eyebrows, "Whatever, while you're off racing alongside all those rednecks, I'm improving the economic-"

Both women grunted at the sound of a loud buzzer, they looked up and found that everyone in the room was now seated and staring at them. Jody turned her head away from Megan and exhaled loudly, now embarrassed that everyone had been watching the two bicker. The Commander had a raised eyebrow as he looked specifically into Jody's eyes with a look of discontent. Jody blinked a few times at him, understanding that he was offended that an officer of her rank was bickering with another officer over racing. She widened her eyes with a big fake smile.

The Commander nodded slowly, "Alright, I would like to start off this emergency conference, by welcoming all of you to New York City," Jody was now giving the Commander her full attention, along with the other officers of the Federation, "You were all told what happened, but let me give you the rundown anyways," the Commander coughed and looked over at his advisor, "-and by me, I mean him."

The advisor held up a device and adjusted his glasses, "Early in the morning, the city of New Edinburgh, Mysteria; had been attacked by what the government claims to represent the Dark Million organization," he lowered his eyebrows as he continued to look over his electronic notes, "The city was bombed and pillaged, but no clear war goal had been enforced by the attacker."

The Commander growled nervously, "They claim that the city is nothing but rubble," he added.

"About thirty minutes into the attack, the government of Mysteria had reestablished a hotline with the Federation and sent us a request for immediate aid. The message seems to have been jammed, however, as we had only finally received the message six hours ago—four hours after it was sent."

The Commander turned his head towards the officers and hummed, "They have not supported this claim with any photos, but, the fact that Mysteria came to us asking for assistance is a bit suspicious," he closed his eyes and grumbled something into his chest, "The attack is apparently over, but their government continues to spam our inbox with requests for military aid. Now we need to make a decision; do we help the planet that has been threatening us for nearly a decade? Speak now."

Jody and Megan both grunted and fired their hands up into the air, the Commander lowered his eyebrows at the two and hummed. Megan began to flail her hand in the air, begging for the Commander to hear her suggestion. Jody and Megan were politically opposites—Jody being more Left, while Megan was Right. Jody was flailing her hand as well, despite this not being very polite looking. The Commander pointed his finger towards the two and raised an eyebrow.

"I think we'll listen to-o…" Jody stopped flailing her hand for a moment and gave him a strict stare, Megan continued to flail her hand in desperation to be picked, "Let's hear from my trusty chief commander."

Megan grunted and quickly submerged herself into her seat with a look of irritation; Jody sat down firmly and crossed her fingers together.

"Commander, I do not recommend implementing a Federation military presence in Mysteria, rather, we should send humanitarian aid."

Megan chuckled and rolled her eyes, the Commander raised his eyebrows, "What kind of aid are you proposing?"

"Sir, if what the government says is true, and New Edinburgh is truly gone, the planet will be in desperate need of food, water, shelter, medicine," she pointed at him, "We can't honestly trust that Mysteria will tend to this issue on their own. On a planet with little-to-no sunlight, farming is nearly impossible through natural means, and we need to think about the children of Mysteria; many of them are going to be in no better situation than the impoverished of the Lower City in Mute City."

Megan stood up, "Sir, if I may interject?"

"Granted."

Megan stood up and held her heart, "My counterpart, Jody, has an okay idea on how to deal with the situation; but I have a better suggestion," Jody glared at her, but remained calm, "We _should_ take up this golden opportunity and place military personnel inside of their planet. Humanitarian aid is not needed; they need protection from further attacks."

"You believe there will be further attacks?"

"No, but this is our one chance to place soldiers on Mysterian soil. If we do this, we can implement more spies, and within a year, we very well may be able to pull off a coup d'état and install a more friendly democratic government on Mysteria."

The Commander hummed, "So you're proposing that we use this tragedy to our advantage by using it as an excuse to put more spies in?"

"Exactly, if we do this, we can convince the people that socialism is not the path to success; we can spread the word of democracy and persuade the people to rise up against their government."

Jody closed her eyes and began to laugh, finally unable to hold in her disapproval. Everyone turned towards her with intrigued looks, Megan crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

The Commander scratched his eyebrow, "Do you have something to say, Ms. Summer?"

Jody raised her finger with a smirk, "I just find it funny that any human would dare use a tragedy of these lengths to further their political agenda…"

Megan grasped her arm roughly, "It's not my political agenda—it's so the Federation can grow, and this empire can fall…"

Jody finally stood up as well and shook negatively, "We don't need more spies in Mysteria. We already have very qualified agents working to bring down the government in a more humane manner…" she pointed at Megan and shook negatively, "If anything, the military support of Mysteria would only further empower their government."

Megan shook negatively, "Impossible."

"No, we need to view this from a different perspective. These are human beings who simply want to co-exist with the universe, sure, Mysteria has a corrupt government, but look how they've changed over the years…" she slapped her fingers into her palm, "They went from a radical democracy, to a communist empire, and have now fallen into a socialist monarchy. All of you are entitled to your opinions, but I believe that the government of Mysteria is collapsing on its own."

Jody grasped her waist and smacked her lip, "Now, as much as we all want Dark Million destroyed, we can't send troops to Mysteria. Moralistically, sending troops over is wrong." She clenched her fists tightly, "Black Shadow has the capability to make an army of supernatural capabilities, our soldiers would be sent into a frying pan if we sent them over to Mysteria."

Megan lowered her eyebrows nervously, Jody was beginning to sweat and turn red as she spoke, "In the words of Otto von Bismarck; '_Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield, will think hard before starting a war…_'." She slammed her hands down onto the conference table and grinded her teeth, "Commander, I know that you were never a soldier. Megan, you were not a soldier. To my knowledge, _no one_, in this room, has ever witnessed war."

The Commander was initially offended by her remark, but was fairly intrigued to hear her point. "Not a single person in this room truly understands how it feels to be shipped off to a war that they do not want to fight. Every man or woman, who leaves their home to fight in a distant land, will never truly understand why they are leaving to fight. They throw their lives around, for what?" She slammed her fist down and glared, "So _we_ may gain!"

Megan gritted her teeth nervously, she was praying that Jody would be told to sit down, as there was no way that she would have an argument as passionate as Jody's. Jody swiped her hand across the air swiftly and stomped her foot down.

"These soldiers would be torn through, destroyed, slaughtered; there's no rhyme or reason when it comes to Dark Million. These, brave soldiers, who volunteered to leave their home and leave for Mysteria, would very likely be killed fighting, just so we can coup their government—illegally." She closed her eyes with quivering eyebrows, "There are young children, six, seven, eight, all ages; who love their family…" she looked the Commander in the eyes and growled, "Twenty years from now, I may very well become commander of the Federation, and I'll be approached by one of these children—now all grown up…" she narrowed her eyes sadly and shook negatively, "They'll ask, why we had their family members killed on a planet of no significance to them, and sadly, I'll have one thing to say: _I don't know_."

Megan sat down and crossed her fingers together while trembling, Jody was very worked up, sweat was easily visible across her forehead, "Sure, I could do the usual method of a democratic leader; preach on about how they apparently fought for liberty, but we all know this to be untrue. If I were to lie, and tell them that they died fighting on Mysteria for liberty, would that make me any better than the average communist?"

Jody exhaled loudly and licked her lips as she prepared her conclusion, "In conclusion, my friends; communism, democracy, socialism, fascism; they all work the same way. You flip a coin, a party either works, or it doesn't work. The Mysterian Workers' Party, does not work, but that is not our call to make, it is the people of Mysteria." She pointed her finger and moved it around the table, "We need to send Mysteria food, medicine, water; not guns, ships, and tanks…" she sighed and closed her eyes in frustration, "If we do this, I promise you, everything will work out in the end. For us, Mysteria, and the soldiers…"

She sat down and exhaled loudly. Megan was refusing to look at her, and the Commander appeared fairly proud of her. He nodded approvingly at Jody and brought his hands together.

"So, we'll be sending humanitarian aid to Mysteria, then?"

Chiya grunted loudly as she struggled to hold up a bar stool, Earl was unbolting the bar counter, and Seppuku was already sanding off the now-filled section of the wall that had been destroyed by Michael Chain. The three had begun maintenance of Good Odds, though they were doing so illegally, as they didn't want to purchase the property until the job was done. Neither Chiya, Earl, nor Seppuku had heard about the tragedy on Mysteria, despite the fact that it was all over the news. Yet, the world seemed oddly silent, almost alerting Chiya that something was wrong.

Chiya was humming a tune aloud as she carried the bar stool outside of the bar, not much work was needed to complete the pet shelter, the real challenge would be obtaining the tools and equipment to successfully open up for business. Earl unbolted the last part of the bar counter, he grasped onto it and grunted loudly as he began to drag it towards the door. Seppuku looked back at him and lowered his eyebrows.

"Bendek, you'll ruin the floor if you drag it like that."

Earl dropped the counter and groaned, "But it's heavy!"

"Oh for the love of…" Seppuku walked over to the counter and quickly grasped it firmly, Earl grunted loudly at what he did next, Chiya turned and widened her eyes in awe; Seppuku had lifted the entire counter and was now moving towards the door slowly, "You clearly weren't trying hard enough…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "…what the Hell kind of steroids did you take?"

Seppuku tossed the counter out the door, it broke into several pieces after hitting the concrete, "I injected myself with practice, swallowed a few pieces of determination, and topped it off by overdosing on pride."

Chiya quirked her mouth, "Seppuku, you know that drugs are bad…"

"I didn't do drugs, idiot."

Her eyes immediately began to water, "I'm just saying…"

Seppuku quirked his mouth and looked around the nearly empty room, "Well, the rooms are almost empty. Get the cages and food, and we're ready to go."

Chiya puckered her lips, "This is going to be so much fun!"

Seppuku sat down on the last remaining bar stool and shrugged, "I guess if cleaning up animal crap twenty times a day is your definition of fun, then sure."

"It's not going to be like that…"

Earl nodded as he grabbed the stool Seppuku was sitting on, "Yeah, we only do that about three-to-four times a day."

Technically, Good Odds was almost complete; but the components of a pet shelter were currently missing—which Chiya would pay for with the emergency funds they had been saving. Chiya planned on acquiring the cages and food the next day, meanwhile, Earl would purchase the property. With the next two Throwdown matches coming up, Earl would also need to practice fighting.

Earl and Chiya walked out of the building together, the entrance to the building was now surrounded by stools, tables, paintings, and other parts of Rough Odds.

"Geez, what are we going to do with all of this?"

Chiya shrugged, "Burn it."

"That would leave too much smoke; we'd have the fire department down here in no time."

Seppuku exited the building and joined the two, "Are you sure that we can't turn this place into something cool? It's not too late, we pretty much restored the building, so we can turn it into anything we want now."

Chiya snapped her fingers, "A pet shelter is going to be cool, way cool!"

"You can't associate the word _cool_, with _pet shelter_…"

Earl shook negatively, "Unless the owner is a beloved F-Zero racer."

"That's right, who wouldn't want to come and adopt a pet from me?"

Seppuku sighed and shook negatively, "Whatever, I'm going home."

Earl and Chiya shared the exact same thought; they approached their new vehicle with somewhat exhausted looks. Getting rid of all the stools and other objects would be priority one, as there could be no evidence that someone was illegally reestablishing the building. Police cruisers patrolling the Lower City were rare, but not unheard of. During the gang war, Lower City police units were almost always vacant.

Chiya got inside of the vehicle and quickly sat back in the soft leather chair, Earl did so as well and buckled his seatbelt. Chiya bounced up excitedly as she looked around the vehicle's dashboard. Earl turned on the vehicle, making all of the interior lights come on. Chiya smiled and immediately reached for the radio. Earl watched as the _Red Dove_ darted away from the area, he nodded with a smirk and exhaled loudly as Chiya fiddled with the radio.

After a few seconds of searching, Chiya found a Japanese music station that she liked. She smiled and rested her head against the seat. The two drove around the Lower City as Japanese music played loudly. The inside of the vehicle had a very cool temperature, but considering they were technically still in winter, Earl was content turning up the heat. Chiya put her hands up against the plastic grill of the heating unit, letting her hands warm up.

They drove down the usual street leading to the base; Earl had a very distracted look on his face as he contemplated about the upcoming Throwdown match. Lately, the idea of Throwdown sounded silly to them, and he found himself wondering if there was an actual point to fighting. If Brock Blaskovitz were to be killed in the match, it would have been worth the effort—but only if he could kill him.

As if irony had suddenly struck, both Chiya and Earl grunted upon seeing the _Red Dove_ stopped in the middle of the street. Their Throwdown secret advisor, Berserker, was speaking to Seppuku through the cockpit. Earl immediately hit the brakes and stopped behind the machine. Berserker and Seppuku both looked back at the two, Seppuku hummed slowly and rubbed his chin.

"Get in Bendek's vehicle, but let's keep this Mysteria thing to ourselves until this Throwdown match ends…"

Berserker nodded, "Right, we can't have to two bailing on the match to help the people of Mysteria…"

Earl and Chiya continued to stare at Berserker in shock; they could only imagine what he was doing in the Lower City, and what business he could possibly have with Seppuku. Chiya grunted as Berserker turned towards their vehicle and began to approach them. Chiya was desperately trying to catch a glimpse of his face, but the hood over his head perfectly silhouetted everything but his chin.

Berserker roughly put his hand down on the roof of the vehicle and looked into the window, Earl momentarily rolled down the window with a raised eyebrow.

"Berserker, what are you doing here?"

He rubbed the metal of the vehicle and smirked, "Nice ride…"

Chiya quirked her mouth, "Can we hurry it up? We're letting the heat out."

Berserker took it upon himself to get in back and buckle his seatbelt, Chiya and Earl both grunted as he got himself comfortable. Earl lowered his eyebrows and quirked his mouth.

"Uh, can I help you?"

"The Lieutenant said that you'd take me back to your base, do you mind?"

Earl glanced over at Chiya, she appeared somewhat nervous by this request, but she wasn't going to decline the request. Earl put the vehicle back into drive and continued down the street. Berserker sat motionlessly and was staring out the window; both Chiya and Earl immediately felt somewhat awkward and unwilling to speak. Earl bit his lip and put his hand down on the radio.

"Uh, Japanese pop is a bit childish, let me put on the news."

Chiya glared at Earl, but Berserker grunted loudly and slapped his hand, "No! No news," Earl looked back at him and blinked a few times, Berserker retained the same blank expression he always had, "There is nothing on the news, today; I suggest that we listen to this music."

Earl was skeptical of this, but Chiya nodded in agreement. Of course, Berserker didn't actually like the music being played; rather, he wanted neither Chiya nor Earl to hear about the incident on Mysteria. If Chiya were to discover that New Edinburgh had been attacked and practically destroyed, she would want to go visit her mother immediately—thus bailing on the Throwdown match. Both Seppuku and Berserker found a surefire way of killing Brock in the ring, but they could only do so if Earl were to win.

The three had later arrived at the base and were now in the lobby. Earl was sitting on the end of the dining table, Chiya was standing by the door, Seppuku and Berserker stood beside the table. Earl looked back and forth between Seppuku and Berserker, both men seemed to be of the same height—and both were equally fearsome.

"Those first two matches weren't very hard; I'm just a bit scared now…"

Berserker shook negatively, "That incident won't happen again, your last opponent just grabbed onto anything he could before you hit him. Not many people would resort to doing this, it's dishonorable."

"They were bruised, I couldn't even do a full examination because it would hurt too much."

Seppuku quirked his mouth, "Did the doctor check it out?"

Earl gritted his teeth and dipped his head, "I had a female doctor, I didn't feel comfortable-"

"Earl did the right thing not showing her his private area!" Chiya commented loudly.

Seppuku glanced over at Chiya and hummed softly, "What about Flower?"

Earl looked at her for a moment and lowered his eyebrows, "What about her?"

"You two are lovers, can't you have her examine you."

Both young adults grunted and blushed slightly, Chiya rubbed the back of her head and glanced away from the three. Earl dipped his head down and exhaled loudly, Chiya glanced over at him again after he exhaled. Seppuku rubbed his hands together and shrugged.

"It's not sexual, she would just check to see if anything looks bad."

"Th- that's- I don't-"

"Earl…" he looked over at her slowly, she was rubbing her arm with an innocent look, "I'll do it, if you want me to…"

Earl gritted his teeth and lowered his eyebrows, "I- I don't think-"

Seppuku pointed at Chiya, "Just let her feel around, and you report what still hurts, that way we can go get you any medication before the next two matches."

Earl closed his eyes tightly and shook negatively, the fact that Chiya already agreed to do this for him was pressuring him greatly, "I don't want to, it's unnecessary!"

Seppuku growled and turned towards Berserker, "Can Bendek wear some protection?"

"No, that would be considered armor."

"Armor, how idiotic…"

Earl put his hands together and sighed, "Look, everything's gonna' be fine. I'll just throw some strong punches, use any object to my advantage, and get to the Blaskovitz match."

Berserker swatted his fist into his palm, "Every opponent is going to be harder than the last. You need to keep a strong mind and not let the fears of getting hit below the belt get to you."

Earl grinded his teeth furiously, "I- I already told you, didn't I!? I'm fine!"

"Your balls may be fine, but is your conscious?"

Earl grunted intensely at Seppuku and launched out of his seat, "To Hell with you, to Hell with all of you!" Chiya gasped loudly, "Except you, Chiya," she exhaled in relief as Earl marched past her.

Earl entered the hallway and slammed the door shut behind him; Chiya briefly cringed upon hearing the door slam shut. Seppuku and Berserker exchanged glances, but Seppuku ultimately brushed off Earl's anger and shrugged.

"Would you like a beer?" asked Seppuku.

Berserker smirked and shook negatively, "No, I'm strictly water or coffee."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and took off her stock hat, "I'm going to go take a shower…"

Jody entered the Federation HQ and sighed very loudly, her fingers were now glowing red from holding her suitcase for so long. She walked through the lobby and into the elevator, after a day of heavy debate, sitting behind her desk and answering calls for the remaining hours was about all she was willing to do. She pressed the button that would take her all the way up to her office and exhaled loudly.

"Finally, I can isolate myself-"

Just before the door shut, a blue boot was forced into the center to block it. Jody widened her eyes and gasped, Tanaka's silly face momentarily appeared as he pushed the door back open.

"Oh, Jody! What a surprise, you're back!"

Jody sighed and lowered her eyelids, "Yes, and I'm exhausted…"

Despite the look of immense disinterest Jody had, Tanaka decided to enter the elevator with her and press a button. She lowered her eyebrows and clenched her fists.

"Oops! Pressed the wrong button," he pressed another button, meaning she would have to wait even longer for the elevator to bring her up.

Jody sighed and face palmed as the door shut. The two stood together for several moments as the elevator went up the tower, Tanaka was constantly glancing at her, but she kept her hand over her face. He quirked his mouth and raised an eyebrow, trying to think of a conversation that he could start that would be of interest to her.

"So, um, how was New York?"

Jody dragged her hand down her face and sighed, "Megan had a seat right next to me…"

"The major of Europe? That must have been awkward."

Jody crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, "I hate that woman. Instead of kissing up to me, her future commander, she insists on trying to get me demoted so she can become the commander."

"Really?"

"I have no evidence, other than the fact that she stated her intentions of becoming commander; but I know that she's trying to replace me. She's foolish, if I become commander, she's going to get hit pretty hard."

Tanaka smiled, "You have every right to hold a grudge on her. You're the only one fit to take on the role of commander."

The elevator stopped and opened for the mistaken floor, Jody lowered her eyebrows, "I hope you're not expecting me to promote you to chief commander, because I'm not handing that special rank out to anyone I know personally."

"Of course not, I say this because you're the most qualified member of the Federation; you deserve the pride that comes with being commander."

Jody shook negatively, "I'm not doing it for the pride, I'm doing it for the people of the universe."

The door came to Tanaka's stop, but he didn't exit. Tanaka rubbed his chin and nodded, "Will you still be hanging around here, with us?"

"I'll either go to Bianca City or New York City," Jody continued to look at Tanaka, she raised her eyebrows and grunted as the elevator continued up to her office, "Um, Tanaka, y- you missed your floor…"

"Oops, oh well, I'll just head back down after we reach your office."

Jody nodded and sighed, "God, I sure hope the Commander doesn't demote me; I've been trying my best…"

Tanaka smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, "You'll be promoted. You're pretty, nice, tall; a great person—generally," Jody widened her eyes and grunted, "Compared to someone like Megan, you have the looks of a supermodel, and you've become a masterful politician. There's no way someone like you could be demoted…"

Jody was now mashing her finger on the elevator button constantly with a very nervous fake smile, "T- this elevator sure does go slow, huh!?"

Earl was much later lying alone in Chiya's bed; he was watching television with a somewhat scared expression. Earl was already fairly calm about Throwdown, but Seppuku and Berserker had accidentally scared him again. After taking an injury as painful as his, he was beyond scared that this might happen again. Like many men, he was uncomfortable with the idea of a woman doing an examination on his private area. As for Chiya, he was merely faced with the frightening thought of her actually touching him below the belt. He felt that this would be humiliating, and he knew that she would be unable to focus on the examination. Ultimately, he was unwilling to cooperate with the idea of an examination.

His head bobbed up as Chiya momentarily opened the door and closed it behind her. She locked the door and yawned loudly, "Time for this flower to hit the soil."

Earl raised an eyebrow at the metaphor, finding no logic in it, but he understood what she was saying. She walked up to her dresser and took out her pajamas. Earl blinked at her a few times as she threw off her boots and socks. She got behind the dresser door to cover herself from Earl, and then proceeded to unclothe herself. Earl was staring down at her feet, which was still visible. Earl quickly looked back at the television as soon as he saw her black panties drop.

He sighed loudly and momentarily slipped under Chiya's blanket in preparation for sleep. Earl was going to be very busy this week, as he had two Throwdown fights, had to repair the _Red Dove_, was in charge of purchasing the Good Odds property, and had to finish making Good Odds with Chiya. Along with these tasks, he had to take on the challenge of being in Seppuku's organization while pleasing Chiya at the same time.

Earl was grinding his teeth as he thought about all of these tasks, but Chiya's presence had soothed him out of frustration. She closed the dresser and wiggled her rear around with a playful smile. Earl smiled back at her, but momentarily frowned again. Chiya leapt onto the bed with him and crawled up to him.

"What's the matter?"

Earl lowered his eyelids and puckered his lips nervously, "The truth is, Chiya; I am still scared to fight…"

She immediately shook negatively, "But you kick butt at this sport, you knocked both of your opponents done four times faster than an F-Zero race."

Earl looked up into her eyes and dipped his head down, "But, I'm scared that someone will crush me in that same area…"

Chiya smirked at him and nodded, "Well, I was kicked in my area during soccer practice once, didn't feel good, but I got over it relatively fast. Just try and-"

"It's different with men," he turned away from her and held his arms, "You wouldn't understand…"

The room had become silent, Chiya, being a woman, would never understand the excruciating pain he experienced in the end of that second match. Chiya wanted to help Earl however she could, but she found that this wasn't actually something that could be fixed with an examination—this was mental fear. Earl continued to hold his arms sadly as he laid the other direction. Chiya lowered her eyebrows and smiled sadly at him, she began to stroke his hair softly.

"Poor, Earl…"

Earl lowered his eyelids as she continued to feel his hair, Earl's overall motivation for Throwdown seemed to be disappearing more by the minute—it was only a matter of time before he would back down completely. If Chiya and Earl were aware of the fact that Brock Blaskovitz had participated in the destruction of New Edinburgh, this would surely inspire Earl to fight on, so that he may avenge the city Chiya often visited. Neither of the two knew about the attack, and Seppuku had no intentions of informing the two until the two Throwdown games were over.

Chiya finally put her chin over his shoulder and faintly smiled, "I won't judge you for quitting…" Earl's eyes widened upon hearing this, Chiya was now rubbing his shoulder softly, "But you know, I think I can somewhat understand the feeling."

Earl raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

She nodded swiftly and brought herself off of him, the two were now looking at each other under her blanket, "Childbirth. I've heard the stories of how painful that will be, and I'm sure with someone with such a small…" she lowered her eyebrows and glanced away from him, "Well, such a _little Chiya place_, I understand that this is going to hurt even more. But regardless of this, I want to have _babies_, not a baby."

Earl slightly turned red, but nodded respectfully at her wish, "I see."

"I'm going to have to go through childbirth two or three times, I'm sure, but I understand that it'll be painful…"

"You would go through that process, three times?"

She beamed and nodded affirmatively, "One, two, or maybe all of those children will help the world in a great way…"

Earl continued to stare at her, this simple statement was successfully empowering him. If Chiya would willingly go through the same inevitably painful process multiple times, Earl felt safe fighting two more matches that may not hurt at all. The idea of getting grasped down below again was a mere fear-and nothing else.

Earl smiled and nodded, "I'm ready for this. I'm going to get to Blaskovitz and send him back to Hell."

"You can do it, Earl."

Earl laid his head back against his pillow again and smiled while looking up at the ceiling, the confidence Chiya had restored into him wasn't all he was focusing on, however. Chiya had made it clear to him that she was excited to have children, while Earl was indeed scared of this concept-he was also intrigued.

He turned towards her again just before she could turn off the lamp, "Boy or girl?"

She backed away from the lamp and looked him in the eyes, trying to understand the question better. She momentarily widened her eyes and grunted, then a smile overtook her.

"I want a daughter."

Earl smirked, "You know, we could just head over to the hospital and have the doctors pick out some female DNA from my-"

"No, that takes the adventure away if I know that we're going to have a daughter," she closed her eyes and reached for the lamp again, she quickly turned it off and brought herself under her blanket, "I'll be just as happy if I have a son; I want to have my baby the traditional way."

Earl closed his eyes and finally rested his head into his pillow, "Very well."

The two proceeded to rest, but Chiya's smile had slowly disappeared, creating an expressionless look on her face. She opened her eyes and held her hand up with lowered eyelids, she flexed her bare fingers and frowned. _He'll talk to me about his private area, my private area, childbirth, future plans for children…_ Her eyes slightly watered as she stared at her finger.

_…Why doesn't he discuss marriage..?_ she thought sadly.

Blood Falcon clapped his hands in the air loudly and laughed, many of the Blood Falcon drones watched him from a balcony. He was standing over the mess hall of Black Shadow's ship.

The drones were created to obey Blood Falcon-as a leader. Black Shadow was represented to them as their only God. If Black Shadow for some reason desired to pull the plug on Blood Falcon, the drones would listen and strike down Blood Falcon.

"Servants of Dark Million, our operation on Mysteria last night was a resounding success!" several of the drones laughed and cheered, "The morale of humanity has dropped, and our name has been spoken of several times today."

The drones continued to look up at their leader with pride, but these drones were like computers-they operated without feelings or limitations. Unlike Blood Falcon, these drones were the perfect puppets that desired nothing more than to work.

"But of course, this is only the beginning. Mysteria is a planet that would have lost against us even if we went in without the initial bombing," he clenched his fists tightly, "When we're talking about Earth, we _must_ be stronger…"

He swiped his hand across the air, "When lifting, you must go beyond your limitation! When sparring, you must act as if you are truly trying to kill your brother…" he slammed his hands down on the railing of the balcony, "When you run, pretend as if you are racing an F-Zero machine!"

Black Shadow was sitting on his throne with a smirk as he listened to Blood Falcon speak on his monitor. There were several other monitors surrounding him that displayed parts of the ship, and even live feed of planets. There was a live feed of the main street of Mute City.

"We do not rape, steal, or joke around when in battle. We are warriors of Dark Million! We are the modern Vikings of the universe and will prove to be the superior beings!" Blood Falcon breathed in and held his waist, "One day, we will all live in harmony together, as brothers, in a universe of perfect equality, control, religion, and order!"

Black Shadow clenched his fist and looked down at it, his empire had taken a bad turn the past year after the Battle of Green Plant; but it seemed that Dark Million was nearly back at full strength-and more.

"We all dream of the day, where we can discuss the historical moment where we decapitated Captain Falcon during the glorious onslaught of Mute City. A day, that will only be possible, if we work harder…"

He sat down in a chair on the balcony and crossed his arms, "This, is the Dark Million dream, gentlemen; and it all begins with the wiping of Earth…"

Black Shadow's ship continued its journey towards endless space, as the drones now train to take on bigger prey. Mute City wasn't in danger yet; but soon enough, Dark Million would bring down more cities. Once the morale of humanity was at an all-time low-Black Shadow would strike Earth.

Mysteria was the topic of concern for now, but in all actuality, the Federation was focusing on the wrong place. The mission to find Black Shadow was what needed to be prioritized. Something no one but Lieutenant Seppuku seemed to understand.

To be continued…


	24. Lap 23

==Lap 23=

Earl was mumbling in his sleep faintly, his shirt was now off and his blanket was rolled down slightly. He was fighting the urge to laugh as something constantly tickled his bare chest. He finally broke out into soft laughter as the tickling continued. He refused to open his eyes, but he knew that this was Mauser.

The small cat stood on Earl's chest while staring at his face, intrigued to see someone else in his master's bed. Mauser had become so accustomed to being the center of Chiya's attention, the poor cat was clearly crushed to find that there was little room for him. He sat down on Earl while continuing to stare at his face.

Earl had fallen into a heavy slumber again, but he could feel another strange thing. He lowered his eyebrows and wiggled his thumb around, he found that his thumb was very warm and wet. He found this strange, and slowly began to awaken as he wiggled his finger around more. After moving his thumb around, he felt several sharp objects and something very soft and wet whenever he pressed down. His curiosity had finally reached its limits, so he opened his eyes slightly and turned his head. He grunted and raised an eyebrow upon discovering the source of the wetness.

Chiya was holding his hand, clearly intentionally; but she was now sucking on his thumb. Earl gritted his teeth and looked down at her lips, it was clear to him that she initially wanted to hold his hand as she slept-but she had put his finger into her mouth as she dreamed. Earl wasn't prepared to make a scene, but he was immediately thinking of a way he could retract his thumb without waking her.

He rattled his thumb around very gently, trying to slip his finger out of her mouth quickly. Try as he may, Chiya responded to the rattling by giving his thumb a sharp chomp. Earl grunted very loudly and bit his lip tightly, he felt as if Chiya's teeth were sharp as scissors.

He closed his eyes and began to jerk his thumb up constantly in agony.

"What's the matter, Chiya was tired of sucking on her own thumb whenever she's sad..?"

Earl gasped and immediately turned his head, Seppuku was now standing beside the bed with a cold gaze. Loud grunts were all Earl could make as he looked back at him and the door constantly. Seppuku was looking down at Chiya with a straight posture; of course, she was sleeping through all of this.

"Didn't Chiya lock the door?"

"Yes."

Earl blinked at him for a few moments, trying to understand how and when Seppuku entered the bedroom. Ultimately, he decided to let go of his suspicion and sigh loudly.

"Can you help me?"

Seppuku smirked, "Why? I thought you loved Chiya's saliva," Earl widened his eyes and grunted, "You're alright getting her saliva all over your mouth; but when it comes to thumb sucking-that's going too far, eh?"

Earl grinded his teeth, "Well, I sorta' need this finger attached to my hand…"

"Then think, how can you get your thumb out without waking her?"

Earl took a few moments to think about this, Chiya continued to nibble on his thumb. Seppuku raised an eyebrow at Earl in anticipation for an answer.

"Uh, I need to-o…" he turned towards her and quirked his mouth, "Get her to open her mouth…"

"Excellent, pinch her arm, and she'll probably open her mouth."

Earl widened his eyes and shook negatively; rather than pinching her, he put his hand under her chin and began to tickle her throat. It only took a mere second for Chiya to return a giggly reaction. Seppuku sighed and shook negatively, but Earl's method was working just as well as his.

Chiya was beginning to break out of her slumber as she giggled, Earl quickly slipped his thumb out of her mouth and rubbed it against the blanket. A few moments later, Chiya had fallen back into her heavy slumber. Earl smiled at her and exhaled, he laid his head back against his pillow and closed his eyes.

Seppuku grasped Earl's arm, "You've slept enough, it's time to practice."

Earl groaned and opened his eyes slowly, "Practice?"

"Throwdown."

Earl blinked a few times with an irritated look, Chiya was still sleeping through all of this, "Can't we wait until Chiya wakes up?"

"That's the opposite of what we want. Let the princess rest, rather than have her obsess over your shirtless body."

Earl looked down at her and shook negatively, "If my upper body makes her happy, I'm okay with her watching."

"It doesn't make her happy, it makes her excited; now let's go."

Without further hesitation, the two departed from Chiya's bedroom. Mauser was left staring at the door for several seconds after the two left. The cat blinked once and dipped his head down; then he screeched loudly after feeling something from behind. He turned his head and found that Chiya was now biting on his tail in her sleep.

Earl shouted as he thrust his fist towards Seppuku, his fist smashed against Seppuku's elbow roughly. Seppuku grinded his teeth and threw a brief punch at Earl, the punch knocked Earl back immediately.

"Gah! What the Hell!" Seppuku latched onto Earl and tightly pinched his shoulders, "St- stop!"

"What?"

Earl pushed him away and took immediate steps back, "That actually hurt!"

Seppuku stomped his foot down and threw some air punches, "Yeah, it's practice."

Earl held his fists up defensively and lowered his eyebrows, "Practice shouldn't hurt."

The room had become quiet, Seppuku was trying to enforce actual pain into this practice session so Earl would fight back harder. Seppuku was bouncing up slightly as he prepared to strike, Earl was focusing on his hands in preparation to block, then counter-block. Seppuku swiftly threw his fist forth, Earl surprised him by smacking his fist aside roughly before proceeding to beat his throat. Seppuku grunted and stepped back as Earl proceeded to punch several parts of his body repeatedly. Earl was leaving no opportunities for Seppuku to deliver any strong blows.

Earl's beating continued for nearly a whole minute, Seppuku was constantly swinging his fists in an attempt to break Earl's attack. Earl had gotten Seppuku to the edge of the mat and was now beginning to tower over him. Seppuku was smacked repeatedly across the face with full strength-Earl was beating Seppuku as if this were a real fight. Earl's fist was glowing red from all of the pressure, but something on his fist finally broke his concentration and forced him to gasp. A stream of blood ran down Earl's knuckles as he punched Seppuku.

"O- oh God! Did I-"

Seppuku grabbed Earl and threw him across the mat, Earl landed roughly and slid a few inches. Despite the burn he had been given from sliding, he immediately got on his back and looked up at Seppuku.

Two streams of blood were now running down Seppuku's nostrils, aside from the constant sniffling, he didn't seem bothered at the slightest by this. Earl grunted loudly as Seppuku approached him calmly.

Earl put his hands down and continued to grunt, "I- I didn't mean to hurt you, oh God…"

A smirk was forced onto Seppuku's face as he shook negatively, "No, you did good. The blood is a sign of weakness-a sign of limitation having been met."

"B- but, you're bleeding heavily!"

Seppuku did not respond to this for a few moments, the blood was about to drip off of his chin onto the floor. He removed his glove and placed his fingers under his chin to catch the blood. Even Seppuku was fairly impressed that Earl had gotten him to bleed-something even Blood Falcon often failed to do in their fights.

"You did great, this is a good sign. Of course, I wasn't going very hard on you; someone like me can't go full strength on someone like you or Chiya. Your bones and internal organs would be assimilated within a minute if I were to try harder."

Earl was nodding his head with an intense stare as he watched Seppuku bleed. Seppuku's expression was hard to read; he had a smirk, but he also had lowered eyebrows. Seppuku revealed that he was indeed somewhat troubled by sighing loudly.

"The nosebleed was non-intentional. This isn't good…"

Earl sat on his rear and wiped his forehead, "Um, yeah! You should probably check if something broke!"

"No…" Seppuku gazed down at the floor aimlessly as blood continued to run down his face, "If someone as simple as you managed to make me bleed, Blood Falcon getting his hands on my DNA would be a piece of cake…"

Earl nodded and quirked his mouth, "Yeah, well; we're staying low, so he'll never find us."

"Not necessarily. We're staying low so Jody doesn't find me; if we kill Blaskovitz, I almost guarantee you that we'll find Black Shadow," Seppuku clenched his fists tightly and sighed, "But let's be honest-Black Shadow _wants_ me to find him…"

Earl and Seppuku remained on the mat for nearly a minute as they both contemplated about this statement. Only Seppuku understood that Black Shadow had finally raised an army; but as far as Earl knew, New Edinburgh was still striving, and Black Shadow was still fabricating the perfect master plan.

Earl smirked and stood up, "Hey, don't worry about it. We'll track down Black Shadow and team up with Jody again to destroy him. This time we'll take the fight into space."

Seppuku clenched his fists, "Right now, my plan is for Blaskovitz to die, in which case, we'll reveal to the universe that I was the one behind the scheme," he grinned and crossed his arms, "If Excalibur and Berserker back me up in public when I tell the universe that I took down a member of Dark Million-Jody will have to listen to reason and lay down her weapon."

Earl beamed excitedly, "Perfect plan! If she still tried to kill you after that, she'd be no better than the average slummy assassin!"

"It's a process, but completely achievable."

Earl grinned and turned his head slightly, "So, you _do_ want to befriend Jody, not kill her?"

"Kill her?"

"Well, you two hate each other and she's trying to kill you; why wouldn't you?"

Seppuku tipped his fedora down slightly and growled softly, the stream of blood under his nose had already begun to slow down. Seppuku slowly looked over at Earl's old bed and simply stared at it for several seconds. Earl raised an eyebrow, seeing that there was something he wanted to say.

"Jody Summer, is not a bad person."

Earl gasped loudly and nearly fell back, "W- whoa, that's the one thing I never expected Lieutenant Seppuku to say…"

"She's a good person, with a true heart. She isn't as human as you and Chiya, she and I, are very different compared to the average human. I'm sure you've noticed by now that she isn't a very emotional person…"

Earl widened his eyes and grunted as he recollected his memories, "Now that you mention it…" the blank facial expression of Jody Summer instantly filled up Earl's head; that same expression she always has on her face-almost as if she were depressed, "Aside from the times she gets angry, she doesn't seem to be someone who cracks a smile very often…"

Seppuku turned towards the Korean flag that was still hung up in the wall and nodded, "She and I share a similar objective. We both want universal prosperity. I believe this is only possible if we can destroy Dark Million; unfortunately, she believes that I must be destroyed before Dark Million can."

"It sounds like forging an alliance with her would be within our best interests…"

"It is."

Earl finally sat down on his old bed and exhaled loudly, "But why do you always mess around with her then? Why provoke her on the phone, in person, on the track, in her dreams..?"

Seppuku put his hands in his pockets and quirked his mouth slightly, "Uh, well…" he dipped his head down with a silent stance, he thought back to his days as a Federation officer for a few moments before nodding, "Jody liked when I messed with her, back then."

Earl widened his eyes and gasped, before getting a childish look of excitement on his face, "A-ah…" Seppuku turned towards him and raised an eyebrow, "I see what you're saying…"

Seppuku grinded his teeth and growled, "What am I saying?"

Earl wiggled his finger around playfully and chuckled, "You and Jody weren't just _friends_, were you?" Seppuku grunted loudly and cracked his knuckles, "You and Jody were a couple, and that's why you can't stand to see Chiya and I-"

"Oh, shut up, Bendek!" Earl widened his eyes and grasped the bed tightly, "You know that's not true. I've already explained my stance on those feelings many times, neither me nor Summer are into that kind of stuff."

Earl rolled his eyes and shrugged, "I'm just saying, it sounds like you two have a bit of a past together…" Seppuku continued to stare at him with a look of immense frustration, "Remember when she came to arrest you many months ago? She was crying."

Seppuku swished his hand and turned away, "Bah, you're an idiot…"

Earl chuckled and reached over for the TV remote, "Let's see what's on-"

Almost instantly, Seppuku had thrown a clip from his assault rifle towards Earl's hand. The weapon clip had perfectly struck the remote out of his hand. Earl grunted loudly in shock and turned around. Seppuku had a very troubled look on his face as he gazed into Earl's eyes.

"No TV, not today…"

"No television?"

"You can watch TV tomorrow, but I need you to have a straight mind for tomorrow. We just went over how important it is that you win the two matches, I can't risk-"

"Okay, okay, I'll stay away…"

Seppuku nodded approvingly at him, "I don't want you going _anywhere_ in town, either; only to that café, if you wish."

Earl narrowed his eyes and hummed in suspicion, "That's an odd request…"

The room had once again become silent, Seppuku was staring at him strictly, which was practically blowing away his cover. Earl was instantly catching on to the truth. He puckered his lips and narrowed his eyes into slits.

"…just let me take a gander at the news, skim and see if anything-"

"No news!"

Earl nodded and stood up from the bed, he walked back onto the mat with a look of heavy suspicion.

"Alright…" he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at Seppuku, "Don't want me to see that Chiya's been disqualified from the Grand Prix?"

Seppuku grunted and shook negatively, "Don't be ridiculous, everyone loves her…"

Earl poked his chest roughly and hummed, "So what do you not want me to see..?"

Seppuku slowly turned his head and sighed, Earl still had a look of heavy intrigue, "You can watch the news after the matches tomorrow, but it's too risky for you to see right now. Berserker and I need you to win this…"

Earl sighed heavily, "If whatever is on the news is troubling _you_, Chiya and I should be panicking…"

Seppuku grasped Earl's shoulders and gave him a heavy stare, "Bendek, I need you to promise me that you won't look at the news until the matches are over…" he poked Earl's forehead roughly, "You're the most humble and honorable man I know, surely, you won't disgrace my request…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows and grunted, "My code of honor instructs me to protect my home, family, and those whom I love…"

Seppuku very hesitantly nodded, "Something happened, that has hurt all three of those things…"

Earl felt a shock go down his spine, "Wh- what!?"

"But you're not the one who should be panicking-Flower should."

Seppuku forced his hands down on his shoulder and held his finger up instructively, "Give me your word, that you will not look on the news. Just understand that everything is going to be alright, and get us through these two matches." Earl's eyes were left quivering immensely, instantly trying to predict what might have happened that affected Chiya's home, family, and beloved, "Give me your word, Bendek…"

Earl sighed very loudly and scratched his head, "Chiya would be angry if she learns that I was keeping a secret-"

"Your word, give it to me."

Earl lowered his eyelids and nodded, "I promise…"

The room had become silent yet again, Seppuku was left holding Earl's shoulder for nearly a minute. Revealing to Earl that something bad had happened was going to already present issues, as his curiosity would now cloud his mind. Seppuku took his hand off of Earl and nodded slowly.

"After the two matches, the first thing I want you to do; go out and buy flowers and candy for her."

Earl gasped loudly, "Wh- wh- is it really that bad?"

Seppuku looked away from him and shrugged, "Everything is going to be okay, just do as I've instructed. Trust my judgment, and honor our word…"

A knocking at the door could suddenly be heard, Seppuku and Earl both turned towards the door in shock.

"I, made…" Chiya kicked open the door with a gleeful smile, now holding a large plate, "Ba-aco-on!"

Seppuku grinned at the massive plate of bacon, "O-ooh…"

Earl acquired a smile upon seeing Chiya, but his mind was still in the wrong place. He couldn't feel happy knowing that something had happened to Chiya. All he knew was, if something were to have happened to his home, family, and beloved-he would feel lost in the world. Honor was one of the biggest pieces of Earl's life, but interestingly enough, he felt that something happening to the Flower family would hurt him even more than learning that his own family had perished.

Chiya walked towards the two with the bacon and held up the plate, "Come on, I got creative with the swine meat today!"

Seppuku picked a piece of bacon from the plate and gave Chiya a thumbs up, Earl hesitantly took a piece of bacon with a look of horror on his face. Chiya took notice of this and got a cute smile on her face.

"Come on, I thought you loved bacon!"

Earl slowly nodded and smiled back as he ate a strip. Seppuku continued to stare at Earl intensely, but he could tell that Earl would stay true to his word. His code of honor would never allow him to betray his word.

Jody finalized her signature on a document with a fancy letter '_r'_, she exhaled loudly and pushed the paper through a scanner.

"Done…"

Jody had many signed documents on her desk, the attack on Mysteria had kept her busy for a long time. Seeing as to how the humanitarian aid deal with Mysteria was mostly under her control, she had much work to do. The deal had been signed, and Mysteria was now receiving millions of food, cement, and water daily. This was the first time in decades that Mysteria had reopened their hotline with the Galactic Federation, so Jody found this attack mostly a tragedy-but partially a blessing at the same time.

Just before Jody could finally sit back in her chair and relax, her door's buzzer went off. She raised an eyebrow and sat up straight after pressing an answering device on her desk.

"State your business."

"Dr. Stewart, here with an update on the Seppuku manhunt."

Jody pressed a green button next to the answering device, thus opening the door to her office. Stewart remained still as the door swiftly opened, he bowed and entered slowly. Jody lowered her eyebrows and crossed her fingers together nervously as he approached her. She felt that tension between the two were fairly high ever since the Seppuku manhunt had been initiated; the peak of the tension being when he refused to help her on the track against him. Now Jody had requested that the manhunt be called off, leaving her to wonder how long it would take before their friendship would become healthy again.

Stewart pushed a document in front of her quickly, "Your request to pull the manhunt has been accommodated, put down your signature and we can have this scanned and made active."

Jody swiped a pen off of her desk and nodded, "There's just no end to the documents today…"

Stewart remained silent as Jody swiftly put down her signature. Jody couldn't help but feel a bit defeated by taking down the manhunt, but she was still determined to take him down herself. Despite knowing how strong of a person Seppuku is, Jody didn't seem to fear him very much. Naturally, however, killing Seppuku hadn't been on her mind since the attack on Mysteria.

Jody handed the document back to Stewart and blinked a few times, he continued to look down at her for a few moments after grasping the paper. Jody swallowed and quirked her mouth as she gazed at him. Deep inside, Jody knew that words were about to be exchanged between the two; whether they were positive or negative words was beyond her.

Stewart looked past her head and gazed down at the Lower City, "Jody, I apologize for my uncooperative behavior. I'm sure you see a much bigger picture when it comes to Seppuku than we can see."

Jody sighed and shrugged, "Whatever, that's in the past…" she dipped her head down and shook negatively, "I should have known better than to try and have Seppuku hunted down. You can't touch an F-Zero racer…"

Stewart grinned, "You know that it would have never worked, right?"

"Hm?"

"Sending your ordinary bounty hunters out to take care of Seppuku. That would have never worked, Seppuku survived a gang war and several of Black Shadow's greatest men; I somehow doubt anyone could have touched him."

She sighed again and nodded, "I can do it, I'll deal with him myself."

Stewart finally pulled up a chair and sat down, "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Jody slowly looked up at him with an unshakeable stare, "You're without a doubt the toughest woman I know, but come on, Seppuku is another story."

Jody held her hand up in a way that was pleading for him to be quiet, "Stewart, I like you. Perhaps I've been unfair, if you don't agree with what I'm trying to do, that's fine." She stood up and walked up to the window, her attention was centered on the small buildings of the Lower City, then at the tall Upper City buildings, "There are so many issues we're facing, it's understandable if killing Seppuku isn't on your agenda…"

Stewart slowly nodded and crossed his arms, "But on the topic of supernatural humans…" Jody narrowed her eyes curiously and turned towards him, "There's been a rumor that Excalibur and Dark Rose are back?"

Jody gasped with widened eyes, "What?"

"Rick heard some street gossip that Excalibur and Dark Rose have returned and are participating in the Throwdown competition at The Krush."

Jody was left stunned by this, and of course, the first thing she did was pick up her phone. She scrolled down the list of contacts on the phone and found _Seppuku_. Her initial response to this was to call Chiya and Earl, but she found herself hesitating to call the number. Her eyes quivered as she stared at the contact, her finger began to quiver greatly, and her grasp of the phone became much lighter.

The idea of Excalibur and Dark Rose being back was immediately alarming to her, her initial assumption being that Black Shadow made two new clones of the two. Jody knew that Excalibur was really Earl Bendek, but Dark Rose had truly died. Jody continued to tremble somewhat as she gazed at the contact, after a few more moments, she made her final decision.

Jody put the phone down and sat back in her chair after shaking negatively, "I doubt that to be true. I have a secret agent working to kill Blaskovitz in The Krush, he would have told me if he saw Excalibur and Dark Rose."

Stewart raised an eyebrow, "How's that going?"

"This is going to work, Stewart. I put a good man on the job, and he claims that Blaskovitz will soon be dead. Once he's dead, we'll seize his possessions and use it to track down Black Shadow."

"You don't fear that someone else may enter his room and steal his possessions after he is killed?"

"Worry not, my agent will be quick and clean with the operation," she smirked and rubbed her chin, "By this Friday, the score will finally be settled between Blaskovitz and the Federation; and the best part…" she cracked her knuckles, "Seppuku will have played no part in this operation. All credit will go to the Federation…"

Many hours had passed, Chiya and Seppuku were now at Good Odds, Earl was out purchasing the property in the Upper City. The plan to turn the old bar into a pet shelter was going good so far; Chiya was beyond surprised to see that Seppuku was still willing to help. Seppuku had done much more than just help, however, he had entered the Upper City the previous night and obtained a crucial component needed for the pet shelter.

Chiya beamed at Seppuku as they stood in the soon-to-be animal storage area. There were now cages set up in massive rows, each of which could hold two animals.

"Thank you for going out and buying the food and cages, Seppuku."

Seppuku calmly patted her back as he looked down the row of cages, "No problem."

She puckered her lips and rubbed the back of her head, "It's just, that…" she lowered her eyebrows and chuckled softly, "I didn't think that you cared about this pet shelter…"

"I think this building could have gone to better use," he looked down at her and grinned, "But, then again, I suppose even animals hate living in the Lower City…"

"Yeah! We're probably going to take all of the stray cats off of the streets, we're making a difference here."

Seppuku grinned and walked back into the lobby-which was originally where the counter and stools were, "Well you know what?" Chiya followed him into the lobby and stopped beside him just short of the door. Seppuku grabbed the open/closed sign on the door and flipped it to _Open_, "I think you're ready to go."

Chiya gasped loudly and shook negatively, "Uh, uh, I'm not ready yet!"

Seppuku sat down on a damaged bench they had put near the door. The bench was rusty, dirty, and had bullet holes on it from past gang engagements. Chiya was shaking in fright as she stared at the door; the concept of people actually entering the pet shelter was turning her into a puddle of fear.

"You look ready to me. We don't have medicine yet, but that's fine; if you sell autographs and ask for donations, we should be able to exit this deficit smoothly and later afford the medicine."

Chiya got behind the remaining piece of the counter and sat. Most of the bar counter had been removed, but they had left the side of the counter that was facing the entrance, thus making a receptionist desk.

She grasped her forehead and lowered her eyebrows nervously, "I'm not sure if I'm ready to socialize with all of these people…"

Seppuku sighed, "You realize that I can't be here when business picks up, right?"

Chiya's eyes gradually widened, "B- but, what if a rapist comes and-"

"Just keep a gun nearby and Bendek by your side."

At that moment, Earl had come through the entrance with a grin. Chiya bit her lip nervously as he walked towards the desk.

"So we're open for business, already?"

Chiya exhaled loudly, "I guess so."

"Did Summer fork over this property?"

Earl turned towards Seppuku and grinned, "This property belongs to Japan, not the Federation."

Chiya crossed her hands over her heart, "But did you buy it?"

Earl turned back towards her and nodded, "Yes, and it wasn't as expensive as I had thought. Then again, who would pay for anything in the Lower City anyways?"

Seppuku clapped his hands loudly and chuckled, "Well done. If this shelter goes somewhere, the price of this property will rise greatly. When we decide that we're ready to sell, we'll probably make three times as much as we paid for."

"Yeah, well, with F-Zero, Throwdown, and a pet shelter, we sure have our hands full now…" said Earl.

Chiya frantically nodded, "I think we should hold up-"

"You have the building, the food, the cages, the popularity; you should be ready to go, right?"

Chiya and Earl exchanged glances, Chiya had momentarily nodded in agreement, "I guess…"

Seppuku crossed his leg over his knee and nodded, "Now, onto the next matter-how long will this place be open a day?"

Earl wrapped his arm around Chiya's waist and nodded, "We agreed on Big Blue to keep it open every day, but Saturdays and Sundays, from ten to three."

Seppuku nodded and stood up, he opened the entrance door and pointed at Chiya, "Alright, I'll go make a sign for the door. Flower, you come along and announce that you're open for business on your social computer page thing…"

Chiya nodded and quickly moved towards the door, Earl took over Chiya's spot and rested his elbows down on the desk, "I stay here?"

Seppuku and Chiya had already left Good Odds, Earl blinked a few times and sighed loudly. Good Odds was open for business, Chiya and Earl now had new responsibilities to take care of on a daily basis. Of course, in theory, tackling such a job alone sounded easy; but Earl knew that they would need to hire someone eventually.

Minutes later, Chiya was sitting behind Seppuku's desk typing up an announcement on her social media page. Considering she was an F-Zero racer, people were without a doubt going to swarm Good Odds within the week. Even though the building was made to help people, the three were going to have to try very hard to scrape money out of visitors. Assuming that most people who come would be from the wealthy Upper City-Chiya felt no guilt trying to take their money.

Seppuku was in the office with her, he was designing a fancy paper sign that displayed when Good Odds would be opened and closed. As much as he wanted to avoid telling her, Seppuku had instructed her strictly to not go on the news. The lie Chiya had been told was that there was a _feline massacre_, and over fifty cats had been destroyed live on TV by space pirates. Naturally, Chiya's heart would never let her see such an article, so she was respecting his order and staying clear of online articles.

Chiya whistled softly as she looked over what she had typed up so far, she was ensuring that everything was grammatically and punctually correct. Upon doing so, her eyes drifted off the computer towards Seppuku, she raised an eyebrow at him. Seppuku was very concentrated and was making stylish looking strokes with a stylist pencil; what really surprised Chiya, however, was that he was sketching.

She squinted at him and leaned over the desk with a look of intrigue. _Is Seppuku an artist..?_

Seppuku wasn't putting actual artwork on the paper, but the style of lettering he was sketching out was very elegant and well-curved. This was one of the things Chiya always wondered about Seppuku; she often questioned whether the two had more in common than she thought. In his heart, Chiya knew that Seppuku loved Mauser, so she couldn't help but wonder if he truly did support the idea of a pet shelter, rather, he's too ashamed to break character by admitting it.

This was certainly intriguing her, but she got back on task none-the-less. Her fingers were flying around the keyboard, she was beginning to memorize the location of each key by now, but did occasionally find herself messing up. She inserted the address of Good Odds and began to conclude the announcement with a brief sentence of gratitude. Her eyes peered to the left of the screen slowly as she typed, she was looking at her news feed that was in the corner of the screen.

She still had a smile as she typed, but that smile momentarily fell apart upon reading something. She continued to type, but her speed became much slower; after about five seconds-her fingers stopped. Her jaw dropped slightly in shock at what she was reading, she concluded the announcement by clicking _Post Message_. The announcement was made, but her eyes were now filling up with water.

Seppuku's lie about the feline massacre was a good idea, but ultimately, it failed to stop her from discovering the truth. Chiya's eyes continued to water immensely as she gazed upon the horrifying images of the beloved city of New Edinburgh now reduced to rubble. She was shaking negatively in disbelief as the photos scrolled. Unfortunately, she saw everything there was to see. There was a photo of the leveled school district, the collapsed city hall, the destroyed infrastructure, the flattened starport, and the many demolished homesteads.

Chiya was trembling greatly, she grasped her head as tears instantly ran down her cheeks. The article explained exactly what had happened, and it was all too familiar sounding to her. Black Shadow had returned, but Chiya couldn't help but question God as to why Black Shadow chose Mysteria yet again as his target. Her mother lived miles away from New Edinburgh, she could only pray that she had survived the attack. The article stated that only New Edinburgh was hit.

_I can't believe this…_ The article was very informative, she also read about the Dark Million army that had attacked. No one knew that the army was comprised of an army of Blood Falcon drones-as no one who saw these drones survived the onslaught. Chiya was beyond glad to see that Jody had signed a humanitarian aid deal with Mysteria, but her heart couldn't stop pounding after discovering this article. She now knew why Seppuku didn't want her to see this; with the next two Throwdown matches coming up, Chiya would now endanger the mission by wanting to leave for Mysteria-again.

Chiya leaned over the desk and grasped her head, it only took her seconds to realize what had to happen. She indeed wanted to leave for Mysteria, but she couldn't, not yet. Chiya closed the webpage to hide any evidence that she had seen the news, as far as Seppuku or Earl knew; she was still gleeful.

She gritted her teeth tightly and grasped her head more tightly, her hands were shaking as she thought about the many people who died protecting a city that was doomed from the beginning of the onslaught. With a flaring passion of rage, Chiya opened her eyes up into slits. The fire lit in her pupils was unstoppable, and a recipe of ultimate revenge was brewing in her heart.

Something was happening to Chiya, something she hadn't felt in a long time; not since she had been captured by Goroh two years ago. Everything in her life had been set aside once again, as if all she cared about was making the offender pay the ultimate price. Rather than going to Mysteria and weeping alongside her people while being cradled in the caring arms of her mother, Chiya was seeking vengeance.

Chiya slammed her fists down on Seppuku's desk and wiped her tears away, "Seppuku, are you positive that we'll get a lead on Black Shadow if we kill Blaskovitz?"

Seppuku nodded and turned towards her, "Blaskovitz has a method of tracking down his ship. If we kill him, nothing will stop us from looting the bastard and going through his room. You leave that part to me."

Chiya continued to stare at Seppuku for several moments, Seppuku was returning the stare, but a shock went down his spine as he looked into Chiya's eyes; he could tell that something was on her mind. Underneath her eyelids was the beautiful caring eyes of a future mother, but right now she had the look that Seppuku always loved most in a woman.

"I almost have the sign done."

Chiya stood up and began walking towards the door, "Hurry it up, I want to get back and practice."

Seppuku continued to sketch, but he was caught off guard by what she had just said. He dropped his pencil and turned towards her, "Practice?"

Chiya was now leaning against the office door, "Practice, Earl needs to win tomorrow."

Seppuku gritted his teeth in shock, but could tell that Chiya was serious, "G- good initiative…"

Chiya crossed her arms and looked off towards the computer, Seppuku was now rushing to finish the sign. Chiya wanted to try and return to her happy state, or at least pretend to be happy, but she couldn't help but express her rare dark side.

"When you kill Blood Falcon, do you plan on wearing his new silver scarf?"

"Damn right I do, right under my coat. The color of a blood red scarf can never be replaced," Seppuku had a perverse grin on his face, one that desired the humiliation of Dark Million, "The scarf will make an excellent war trophy. As for Black Shadow…" the white eyes of Seppuku's visor flared for a moment as he chuckled, "I'll unmask him after I kill him, and hold his lifeless body over the Federation HQ for all to see…"

Chiya smirked, "Then you're going to drop him?"

"Hell no! That'd be disgusting, there'd be blood _everywhere_!"

Seppuku was later driving Chiya back to Good Odds in the _Red Dove_. Chiya's mind was elsewhere, but she still couldn't help but feel strange being in the backseat of the _Red Dove _again. For as long as she knew Seppuku, she rarely rode in the backseat of any vehicle. Sitting in the back brought back memories, but unfortunately, Mysteria was all she could think about at the moment. She didn't plan on telling Seppuku and Earl about her discovery, as she wanted Earl to have a clear mind for Throwdown.

The _Red Dove_ turned down the street leading to Good Odds, Seppuku turned his head towards Chiya after the turn, "You were a chatterbox before we left, something up?"

She gazed at his shiny visor with somewhat of a frown, she slightly shook negatively, "I'm fine…"

Chiya looked out the window towards the sky, she often found herself forgetting that it was day, as the large buildings of the Upper City blocked the sun most of the day. The only time of the day that the Lower City saw sunlight was late in the afternoon. There wasn't much to like about the Lower City; but Chiya, Earl, and Seppuku have become used to this part of the city.

Seppuku continued to drive down the road for about a minute, he looked over at the curb and could see their new building off the corner of his eye; but Seppuku spotted something that caught his eye even more.

"Whoa!"

Seppuku hit the brakes and did a powerslide, Chiya nearly hit her head on his seat after coming to such an abrupt stop. She gasped and looked around for the source of Seppuku's sudden shock. Looking over at Good Odds revealed what was out of place; she grunted and widened her eyes. There were several vehicles parked around the pet shelter.

Chiya immediately imagined the worst and covered her mouth in horror, "Oh my God! Are we being robbed!?"

Seppuku gritted his teeth and quickly drove into an alley. Chiya immediately unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed his shoulder.

"Let me out!"

"That's the plan."

He opened the cockpit and unbuckled himself as well. Chiya leapt down and immediately turned towards the alley entrance, preparing to sprint towards Good Odds. Chiya jolted forward, but she was immediately grabbed by the hand. She gasped and turned her head, but this wasn't Seppuku holding her hand.

A very pale and weak looking person was holding onto her hand with widened eyes.

"D- do you have any money or food? Money? Please?"

Chiya began to panic as the dirty man held her, it was only seconds later that more people came towards her from the alley-all just as sick looking. Chiya was actually scared, she knew that these were merely alley bums, but the way they walked made them look like zombies.

Everyone in the alley was startled upon hearing gunfire, the man holding Chiya instantly began to cower, and the approaching bums were now backing away. Seppuku immediately rounded the _Red Dove_ and got up beside Chiya with a large handgun.

"Back! Away with you bums!"

Chiya's eyes were quivering in fright, the man that was holding her momentarily let go of her and took a step back.

"I- I just need a little-"

Seppuku began to constantly fire his gun into the air, "Out! Away! Shoo!"

The bums didn't risk anything, they all retreated deep into the alley with nothing more to say. Chiya was left in awe at what she had just witnessed, Seppuku grasped her shoulder and pushed her towards the alley entrance.

"Go see what's up at Good Odds, I should keep watch of the Red Dove."

"You're not coming along?"

Seppuku shook negatively while aiming his gun down the alley, "No, I can't risk being seen by the public," he patted Chiya's back again and nodded, "Get going."

Chiya did as she was told and began to run towards Good Odds, she was immediately alarmed to see so many vehicles surrounding the building. _Dammit, Earl; this has to do with gambling, doesn't it..?_

She had ran for about five minutes and eventually made it to the entrance. Chiya wasn't going to hesitate entering, if Earl was in danger, she wanted to be there to help. She rushed through the door very loudly, she was panting after running for several minutes. Her ears pranced up in shock upon hearing cheering and clapping upon her entrance.

"Chiya!"

She looked up and widened her eyes, there was a large crowd in front of her-Earl was waving at her from the desk. Chiya was trying to make her way to Earl, but people were touching her as she walked. She pushed a few people aside and got behind the desk with a look of great fright.

"Blimey, Earl! Where did these people come from!?"

"They started to show up a few minutes ago."

She blinked a few times at the crowd with a quivering lip, "D- did all these people read my announcement?"

Chiya was surprised to find that someone was holding a cat inside of a pet carrier, but not just one person, there were several people carrying animals. She widened her eyes and rubbed her chin. _This is more than I thought we'd get…_

A woman put her pet carrier up on the desk and slammed her hands down, "I have a cat for you, Chiya!"

Chiya nodded quickly and pulled out a sheet of paper, "Uh, uh, okay! W- what's his name?"

"I don't know, he's a stray."

Chiya immediately began to write down information about the cat, another person walked up to the desk and pounded their fist down.

"Actually, I'll take that cat."

Chiya stopped writing and looked up, "Adopt this cat?"

"Yeah, I'll buy a cat from you, Chiya!"

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and nodded slowly, "Um, the cat is free. But we'd appreciate it if you could buy an autograph or just donate."

Several people in the crowd had pulled out their wallets, many of which were simply excited to meet a rising F-Zero legend. Chiya's eyes widened greatly upon seeing all of the money. She turned towards Earl and wrapped her arm around him.

"Earl, go set up another desk. We're gonna' need to split the work…"

It had only been about half an hour since the pet shelter opened. Obviously, Good Odds wouldn't always be so successful, they would need to find alternative ways of making money once business began to slow down. But for opening day, Good Odds was drawing much attention. It was truly the start of one of the first businesses in the Lower City.

Throwdown and the Mysterian attack was on Chiya's mind, but for the time being, she was a bit distracted on her new career.

To be continued…


End file.
